Interludes (NO COMMENT POSTS PLEASE)

[Kris O'Sullivan]

It was 7:42 in the evening, and Kris stood beside the bavarian Harpsichord she had become very accustomed to playing. However tonight, she was frustrated. Learning the violin was terribly hard, and she was given Antonio Vivaldi's "La Stravaganza" Violin Concierto in F Major to learn. And, for the moment, Vivaldi and the violin were owning her in spades.

Closing her eyes, and breathing, she heard the music. It was one of her favourites, and she had even played in on the harpsichorde a few times, though she knew her mother longed to hear it on violin. Opening her eyes, she looked to the sheet music. Setting the tempo to a decent allegro, she began to play. The music was sweet, and lifted the spirit, and this time she made it a full line past the last error, before her fingers slipped on the strings.

NO! It was sounding SO pretty! Why? Why did I have to go and screw it up! Why even bother, she tought in frustration that bordered on anger, sadness, and depression.

Hanging her head, the redhaired girl cursed under her breath in the mixture of french and spanish she had heard her mother speak, when she was unaware of Kris' paying attention. The accent of the Isles seemed inherrent to the exotic mixture of idoms. Sitting at the Harpsichord, after setting the violin and bow down, the girl put her face in her hands to think and unwind. Surely she was just stressing over nothing.

[palilla]

Pally had made her mind up. There was an awful lot she had heard that made her upset about a certain relationship. Things she was becoming a little angry about, yet knew would vanish when she spoke to them about it. Amy, was absolutely right. There wasn't anything there, and what better way to kick off her moving on than by going to meet this guy in the American Southwest?

She had strongarmed Amy into coming, but knew she was right when she reasoned to her friend that she would have come out there after Pally, had the latin not told her to come along, anyway. But, for the moment, She felt good to not be getting flack on this, and knowing that she could get Detective out of hers and Amy's hair for the next few days. And Kearen? Well, there were enough people looking for him, that her presence would hardly be missed. Besides, she knew she wouldn't be the one to bring the dark elf to justice.

Right now, however, all she could think of was meeting him again. The native american boy had really thrown her for a loop. He was witty, smart, handsome, and bold. Not only that, but, he also helped to affirm that Pally was a girl. It wasn't something she was very comfortable with, but, it did make her apreciate him more.

Thinking back to everything, she remembered she left the team a notice via the gym's corkboard, announcing her being out of town. She briefly met this tall boy, named Tobias, who seemed to think he knew a thing or three about baseball, so she left him and his sister with the task of practicing with the team, and teaching the newer players the art of the passion.

"Hero Airways Flight 674, with service from Paragon City to Phoenix stopping over in Chicago and Denver, now boarding at gate 11," the female voice said over the intercom.

"Hey, Amy! Our flight's ready," she shouted to her friend, who was saying her good byes to Johnny for now. "Better make it da best kiss ever, 'miga."

[Kris O'Sullivan]

"Steak au poivre! Mom! That's wonderful," Kris exclaimed as she spoke with her mother on the phone.

"Non. It will just be Tony and I. He wanted it that way, so that you could see him, and not be distracted. He's absolutely wonderful, mom! I'm terribly attached to him! I think he'll like you, and pray you like him, too!

So, when do you want us there?

Eight?

I think we can swing that! Love you, mom!"

Kris hung the cellphone u and glowed as she finished walking to her room. She had totally lost her glasses, by now, having switched to contacts, and had grown her hair out as well. It was almost like she had become an entirely new girl, or rather, a new young woman. It was really obvious, now that she wasn't the scrawny little gamined girl that first arrieved.

No. Kris was now a confident, and more mature young woman with her sights on finishing her degree by Senior year, then transferring to a good medical school, like Emory, or Johns Hopkins. And, she hoped to do it all, with Tony as her partner. He just made it all seem like a breeze!

Arriving in her room, she called, and left a voicemail, reminding Arrow that they had a special date, that evening. Grinning, the red head opened the closet door, and began looking through her clothes for something to wear. This needed to be something he would like, but at the same time, something her mother would approve of.

[Eric Copper]

:I can't believe I let you talk me into this. It isn't even legal! He's supposed to have an adult with him!:

Glacial chuckled. "Don't worry so much, Sam. We'll be fine! Which car is yours?"

:The one with the dark tinted windows.: Sam did not sound very happy.

"Ooh! I like it!" Eric bounded over to the car and put his face up against the window, trying to peer in. "I can't see anything. Why's it so dark?"

:Because people freak out when they see a car moving with no driver.:

"Huh. That's silly. Let's go!" Eric hopped into the driver's seat as Glacial took the front passenger seat and the back right door opened and closed, presumably as Sam got into the car.

"So, what do I do?" Eric was bouncing with energy, he was so excited. He'd been begging Glacial to teach him how to drive for the past month. Glacial had agreed that learning from Sister Mary Martha would be disastrous but had been trying to convince Eric to wait until January when Mrs. Williams would be back. Eric was not easily deterred, and Glacial had a hard time telling Eric no, so they'd both ended up ganging up on Sam. After all, he was their friend, and he did have a car.

:Glacial, I am not giving him the keys until you've calmed him down and told him what he's doing.:

Eric pouted briefly, but wasn't focused enough to keep at it. He was soon bouncing again as he looked at the various levers, knobs, dials, pedals, and displays. Glacial grinned widely. "Why not Sam? He's so enthusiastic. What could possibly go wrong?"

Sam didn't respond, so Glacial turned to Eric and put his hand on his chin, turning his face so that Eric was looking directly into Glacial's eyes. "Eric, calm down. Driving requires that you stay focused and in control. Okay?" He then playfully shook Eric's head a bit before pulling his hand back.

"I know that!" Eric grinned, then turned back to the driver's wheel. "How's thing this work?"

Glacial started explaining how the various car controls functioned and what the various displays meant. Sam occasionally interjected with a correction or clarification, his tone still sounding like he'd much rather not be here. Eric looked like he was paying attention, mostly. He also calmed down, a little.

Finally, Glacial had run out of things to explain and Sam couldn't think of anything else to delay the inevitable with, so Sam handed over the keys. More accurately, Glacial held out his hand and a set of keys fell into them seemingly out of nowhere. Glacial showed Eric how to put them in the ignition and start the car, then removed them and handed them to Eric.

"Okay, let's just start with you turning the car on. Like I just showed you."

Eric put the key in the ignition and turned. Any calming down he'd done evaporated as the car came to life.

"Remember, keep your foot on the brake and stay focused." Glacial was amused, but did not seem concerned. Sam, however, could be heard fidgeting nervously in the back seat.

"Right. Foot on brake and stay focused." Eric put his foot down hard on the gas pedal, causing the engine to roar loudly. Fortunately, the car was still in park so nothing bad happened, but Glacial could have sworn he heard Sam yelp.

"That's the gas pedal. The brake is the one to the left. Try again." Glacial was grinning.

"Oh, okay." Eric was completely unphased by his mistake. He moved his foot over and placed it solidly on the break pedal.

lease try to remember which is which in the future, Eric.:

"Sure!" Eric beamed. "I've got it down now."

"Now, use the shifter to change the car to drive."

Eric looked around, trying to remember where the shifter was. After a few moments, he grabbed a lever and pulled it, causing the windshield wipers to spring to life. Eric jumped a bit in surprise, his foot leaving the brake pedal as he was distracted.

Sam sighed mentally. :I really don't think this is a good idea.:

"Don't worry so much, Sam. He's doing fine!" Glacial grinned at the back seat, hoping that Sam had seated himself where he was looking. He then turned to Eric. "That was the windshield wiper lever, remember? This one's the shifter. Make sure you keep your foot on the brake. Focused, remember?"

"Right. Focused." Eric put his foot back on the brake and moved the shifter back to drive. The windshield wipers kept flopping back and forth.

"Now, move your foot to the gas pedal and very gently and gradually push on it to make the car start moving. Use the steering wheel to turn. It's like the racing car game in the arcade we played the other day, remember?"

"Oh yeah! I can do that." Eric floored it. The car lurched forward across the parking lot, which was fortunately empty for the summer.

"Brake! Put your foot back on the brake, Eric!" Glacial no longer sounded quite as calm. The car lurched to a stop as Eric slammed his foot back onto the brake pedal.

:I told you this wasn't a good idea.: Sam actually sounded a bit amused.

"Maybe that's enough for one day, Eric." Glacial reached over and put the car in park. "Why don't we switch seats so I can put the car back, okay?"

Eric pouted. "But I was just starting to get the hang of it! It was fun!"

"I know. We'll do some more another day, okay? Don't want to rush through it."

"Okay." Eric pouted some more as he got out of the car.

Glacial could have sworn he heard Sam mutter a hallelujah.

[Kris O'Sullivan]

Kris sat on her bed, and looked around. Her stuff was packed pretty quickly, actually. It was rather somber in Q5, and she wondered just what the future held, in store for her. In a matter of days, this would no longer be her bed. It would be some other girl's bed. Just like with Lucia. She left to go be with her ailing mother, and now her bed was empty.

She hoped Stasi wouldn't get too down about it. It wasn't like she was really gone. Until she heard something from the scholarship boards, Kris was still a Paragon City girl. Her mom lived in Founder's, and all of her friends lived in the city, so she wasn't vanishing, per se. Still, it felt like good bye, and made her both smile with joy, and ache til crying.

Maybe she needed to see if her friends wanted to hang out at the ice cream place around the corner. Comfort food was definately in order for the now aspiring molecular biologist (genetecist), and friends would help in sharing in the consumption. With a few buttons pressed, and messages left on the comms, she hopped up, and walked down the block to the parlor, happy for the breeze to kill the hot summer air...

[Mister Sqeekers]

The small figure that ran back and forth in the kitchen, moving from stove to counter and back again , was a very odd sight with it's black rubber gloves and white fur ,a tail twiching behind as it worked. It began to chop up more limes to add to the food processor, hoping that this time it put in the right amount. The little creature wanted so very much for the girl, Stasis Kiss, to like it's gift, so it had to be perfect. He saw how her eyes shone when he told her that he had learned to make it and had decided then to make her some. The machine made it's whirling nosies as it ground up the peeled limes that were to be the flavoring for the gelato and the little mouse thought to itself, "I hope it makes her happy, she's so sad all the time...."

[Stasis Kiss]

By the time the sun woke up over the horizon, she was long gone.

Back at the quad, the other girls were probably still sleeping. She should be too, by rights. Mornings and she had never agreed anyways and probably never would. But today she was cutting through the air in easy leaps even as the sun struggled to light her way. She slitted her eyes against the wind and ignored the stinging sensation.

Yeah. Mornings and Mimi.

She'd thought about going to Faultline, the perverse feeling of justification almost overriding the other things she felt. Instead she took grim satisfaction in the swift flight across Peregrine, the industrialized island flashing under her boot heels. The shock of each landing rattled her teeth, compressed her spine. Each soaring arc into the still dark sky stripped things away, made her lighter.

She knew where to go now.

The best part, the perfect part was it had been Mimi who'd shown her. Mimi who'd probably thought only to prove that there were still things she couldn't fight, still things that her security pin meant nothing to. It had been sly concern over the undertow of the challenge.

And sure she'd been too confident. She almost always was, that was nothing new. The green haired girl hadn't whispered I told you so but the words had been there anyways when she'd felt her med badge trigger; so quickly she'd barely had a chance to take a second breath.

The pain had been instant and excrutiating. Like nothing she'd felt before, cutting through her armor like it didn't exist. Like she didn't exist. Impersonal. Uncaring. The hospital walls had materialised around her like a sudden prison.

She'd taken perverse pleasure then that Mimi had had to fly back the long way.

In the light of the reluctant dawn, she streaked bright across the waters; back to the place where nothing would matter but how many breaths she could take against the pain.

Mimi was very, very wrong if she thought that Faultline had been the place where she'd gone to sulk.
______

The static in her head made it hard to think, so she didn't bother trying. Her boots echoed on the floorboards. At least, she thought they echoedbut it might have just been her ears. Nobody else seemed to think there was something odd going on so she ignored the heartbeat of delay between the motion and the sound. Hunger had made itself known so she wandered towards the cafeteria, weaving her way through the growing traffic.

"Hey Stasi, wrong costume!" A boy with auburn hair grinned at her. "Better get plaided before you get another demerit."

She laughed in return, easily enough. "Heyla, I'm collecting the set don'tcha know. Not to worry! I'll change before class." She smiled and pushed him out of her way, kept walking. She was pretty sure she knew him. The name was lost somewhere in her head though. Barj? Maybe. Maybe not. She had a feeling that Barjnal wore his hair differently.

"Hey Stas, we still on for after third period?" Someone else, a girl with green eyes. She nodded, listening to her stomach growl. Sure. There was no name this time but it didn't matter. She'd remember. "Hey that's great, I'll see ya then!"

The scent of food hit her face as she walked into the common room. It sharpened her focus and some of the fog dissipated. She quickened her step, took a free tray, jostled with the others for a decent serving. A smaller kid tried to phase her a few paces away but she laughed and planted her feet. She thought she knew him too and smiled even as she denied him her position in line.

She swiped two apples at the end, one red, one green. Christmas colors. Looked around for a place to sit.

Across the room somebody waved, and then somebody else called out. "Hey Stasi, over here! I got coo-kies!"

She didn't need to know their names. It didn't matter, they were friends. The bone struck bruises under her long sleeved uniform proved it somehow. Her heart felt bird-bright; restarted too many times this morning and there was something dangerously shorted inside her head. It would pass like always.

She was wrong. She couldn't even remember who she meant anymore or why but she was so very wrong, about everything that mattered. So what if she'd never win an argument, never be able to explain it? She'd never been able to string words together. She'd never been good with arguing, everybody knew that. She got mad and then all the words and reasons flew away like frightened children.

She saw him.

He wasn't sitting alone, but she couldn't remember if she knew who he was with either. The vaudun boy was smiling, his white teeth shining in the warmth of his face, talking to the person across the table. She smiled then, simply because he was.

Yuh lyin' ta meh.

It was easy enough to walk over, the static in her head drowning out anything except what was important. She knew him. She did, knowledge as deep as the bruises. She sat down, putting the green apple on his tray without thinking.

You never meet me halfway.

She leaned against his side, happy, soaking in the familar, needed warmth.

Friends were what was important. He was important.

The girl... the other girl didn't have any idea what she was talking about.

[Glowing Vigilance]

Fall

Summer put her back to the tree out on campus. Her books were sprawled out to her left, Stasis and Erika's books were sprawled out to her right. No wind was blowing and the weather men said to take advantage of this weather because it wasn't going to last after this with temperatures going to the 50's by Tuesday with lows ito the high 30's. Summer had polished off the work already in her quad and decided to hobble her butt outside to do exactly what the weatherman said.

She looked up at the sky through the leaves, the sun was smiling down on her, but the clouds in the west were basically going to take that away soon. Her powers were based on how much light she could take in. She loved Cap Au Diable for the fact that she could go outside on any given day and get no rain what so ever. All Sun all the time. Here in Paragon, it was going to be tough staying as active as she was. The sun kept beating down for her and Summer appricated it.

---

"Daddy!" Came a young voice.

A man in a white lab coat looked down at his little girl, "Heya Pumpkin." He said picking her up, "How's my little Yelena doing?"

"Dad!!" she whined, "Call me Summer, I think that name is prettier."

"Hah, is that a fact?" He said, "Yes!" Summer replied, "Its better than Yelena..." She said putting a bad accent on 'Yelena'.

"I think a name has nothing to do with beauty. I don't need all my degrees to say you're the most beautiful little brown haired Angel I've ever seen." He replied.

"Dr. Aeon!"

Summer and Dr. Aeon looked over, "Yes Stevens, what is it?"

"Come with me, we've made a total breakthrough in your research!" Stevens shouted in excitement.

Aeon looked at his daughter, "One sec."

He knelt down to Summer and looked her in the eyes, "I'll..."

She looked down, "You'll be back in an hour and a half to tell me something majorly important. I know."

"Right." Aeon replied, "I'm sorry pumpkin."

Summer nodded and walked away defeated.

---

Summer's head jolted up as she looked around, she must've nodded off. The clouds had rolled over the sun and the wind was starting to blow, right up her skirt. She shuddered to it and quickly grabbed the books and stuffed them into the sack. She threaded herself through the strap and lifted it up with a grunt and walked back to the school.

[Glacial Mass]

Flowers would do it.

He needed something to remind Eric just how important he was. Bright. The brightest colored ones he could get for him. Bright flowers would set Eric to flying through the room, all giggles and bounces, would bring out the joyful boy he loved.

He would knock on the door to their quad. Sam would let him in. It would look like the door opened on its own, and he could leave flowers on Eric's desk.

The thick cloud of steam parted curtains in his mind and he saw Eric's reaction playing out. The babbling, laughing praise. Eric pawing through the note. Alex wouldn't be around when he found them, but they would meet later on and Eric would thank him, and would be reminded.

This little thing that had happened with Jem – it wasn't anything, really. Just a fluke. It was nothing of consequence. Nothing had really happened. The hot water was painting his back the red of a boiled lobster.

Eric's response played in his mind over again and again, each time slightly modified until he could call it perfect. The steam filled his lungs and left him feeling clean inside.

He would buy him flowers, and they would remind him how much Eric meant to him.

[Tamesis]

Tamesis let out a sigh. Sitting over looking the massive body of water that lay in front of her the water seemed to try and reach out towards her calling her in. Her mom probably would be pissed at her for skipping class but it was her first time doing it. She pulled out her math book and attempted to study but the ever close sound of the lapping water called to her. It pulled her thoughts away from the math to the more blissful time when she could swim.

Nothing could beat it. The feeling of floating, the sound of the water as her hand extended into it, the way it felt as bubbles passed threw her toes. Swimming had been her stress relief for so many years. Now when she was most stressed she couldn’t swim well with out turning into an ice berg. Slamming her books shut she rolled up and faced the sun with a frown. The thought about all the doctors she’d seen. Out of all the people she helped… not one…could seem to give anything to help her. Sure, they can support her, comfort her, tell her everything would be alright. Many of the students had found out and did just that.

Already having gone threw the why me stage. She wondered if she was any different from any other 15 year old girl who was told she was dying, well more like she is going to die from Sublimation what the doctors called it. Which would cause her outter ice shell to vanish and the inner gel to allow to splatter all over the ground. Tamesis and her parents learnt a lot about her make up the past few weeks. Intially the Doctors told her that she was made of solid ice but now it turns out to be an odd combination of forzen CO2 and Water. Doc Syl discovered the dry ice composition when she’d came in for a check up. The Doctors also told her she probally wouldn’t see her 16th birthday and if she did she’d probbally be in what Tamesis could only remember as the Supa freezer of sleep. Where she would forced to stay there and be kept alive by machines keeping her outter shell in tact.

An Image of her mothers face flashed in Tam’s mind. She’d never seen her mother so pale. Tam forced her mind away from that thought. Barj came to her mind. His giggles and seemlying never ending childish joy for life brought a smile to her face. She loved how hopefull he was that the doctors could find something. Timothy came next she really never did understand why she even thought about him. He was such an ass but she cared about him for some dumb reason. Barj and Timothy always seemed to be together. It had worried her a bit that they might have something going on. Her mind wandered to Jase. The guy she’d met at the Boy auction after she’d spent a lot of money on a stone boy cuz Stasis suggested she buy him. Tam sorta wished she bough Jase instead, they chatted for a few hours after the event ended. He seemed really nice and pleasant plus he offered to take her to a musical. She grined at the thought of seeing a musical there was a lot she wanted to do before she would be forced into contantment or death. Water kissed the shore line once again and Tam tilted her head to watch the water dance again along the shore. Bringing her self to her feet she overlooked the water and smirked. Kickin off her shoes she ran into the water. Ice and water flew into a spray arround her. She felt the ice form arround her feet as she turned arround and headed back to shore before she froze too much more. Making it to shore Tam kicked off her newly formed ice shoes and grined at the floating ice dancing within the water.

[Star Flash]

A Spooky End

Rematerializing back in the Quad area of the school, Matt began to remove the various pieces of his costume. He had spent the whole night working on socializing and trying to 'live his life' like Summer had told him but he felt empty after the whole ordeal.

Light flashed to his fist as he wound back to punch the wall, only stopping mere inches away from it, quickly realizing that he would be in fact damaging school property. 'Matt, you fool. How could you even think to have these types of feelings for her? At first, you didn't even know if you did like her, and now you practically hold your breath hoping to hear her voice on the comm...'

Tossing down the clunky belt from his costume onto his bed, Matt slumped down onto it and recalled anything to help get his mind off of Summer. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't shake her from his thoughts.

'Why didn't she come to the halloween bash? I thought for sure she would be there... Perhaps... Perhaps she doesn't care for me as much as she first told me... She has been distant lately...' Matt thought as he tried to force his hair back to a non-gelled state.

Growing frustrated with himself Matt once again felt the sudden rush of adrenaline as energy flickered to his fists, 'How did I even get talked into this whole thing with her? Was it because I felt guilty for almost killing her on my first day? Or was it because she cornered me and practically forced me to admit everything about Roxy and I...'

'Porting to his feet, Matt stared long at his reflection in the mirror. "Maybe she didn't show because she finally realizes the danger that's tied to me..."

[Timothy Bastian]

Hi Pica. Tam's throwing a picnic this weekend and she suggested I invite y--

Timothy sighed heavily while crumpling up the note. That wouldn't do. Pica would probably thank Tam, which would lead to Pica finding out that Tam hadn't suggested that, which would lead to him being very embarrased. He tossed it in his wastebasket, along with almost a dozen others.

Hey Pica, Tam's organizing a picnic this weekend. I didn't have anyone else to come with me so I was wondering if y--

Hell no. That makes it sound like she's a last resort. A quick crumple and it joined the others.

Hey Pica, Tam's --

He stared at the sheet of paper. He was out of ideas. Why the hell did this have to be so freaking hard? Maybe he should go back to leaving Tam out of it. Crumple, toss, new sheet.

Hi Pica! Would you like to go to a picnic with me this weekend? It'll be a lot of fun with you there.

That wasn't so bad. Except it was far too peppy and excited. And it implies that it's just them two, which sounds more like a date. Crumple, toss...

Hey Pica, did you have any plans this weekend? I --

Timothy wrinkled his nose. What point does it serve to ask her that? He started to crumple it up, then decided that wasn't good enough for his frustration. Instead, he ripped it up, tossed it, and pulled out yet another sheet.

Hey Pica, I'm going on a picnic with Barj and Tam this weekend. Would you like to come, too? It should be a lot of fun. ~ Timothy

That might work... It wasn't too bad... Better than all the others... And Timothy didn't think he could handle going through any more of them. He folded it up carefully then wrote "Picayune" carefully on the outside. He could put it in her locker tomorrow.

Except... then Barj might find the note. He had a nasty habit of doing stuff like that. Maybe he'd better go slip it in her locker now... His stomach did a somersault. He was really going to do it, wasn't he? She'd surely laugh at him... But... Maybe she wouldn't...

He stood up, fading into invisibility as he headed off towards the academic side with the note in hand.

He came back 10 minutes later to find Barj sitting on the floor, giggling, with a nice stack of uncrumpled papers in front of him.

[Glowing Vigilance]

Mirror Mirror...

Not again, Summer thought. Another night terror just as stron as the last one. She was sweating bullets that were as cold as ice. Her eyes scanned the darkness gaining nothing on which to basis her position off of. Hesitantly she balled her hand into a fist and felt the light penetrate the engulfing darkness. Her breath left her before she registered it. She wasn't in bed, she was sitting on the floor of the girls bathroom, all the doors were shut, all the lights were off and it was freezing. The thing that caught her attention the most wasn't any of the aforementioned. It was the fact that a cat was hanging by its tail over one of the mirrors, its head was no where in sight.

Summer's body convulsed with shivers. She didn't know how she got her, not a single recollection of this event in whole. Her left hand was covered in blood, she didn't have to guess that it wasn't the unfornunate animal. Her eyes shifted to see if anyone else was in the room with her as she got up from the floor. As she approached the mirror with the dead and headless cat she saw the note scrawled in its blood.

"See you, See Me?" it said, a riddle wrapped in an enigma in the form of a question. Her gaze fell on herself in the mirror. Her expression wasn't what she had. It wasn't shock and curiosity. It was a smirk, with a furrowed brow. This couldn't have been her, she wasn't smiling, she was horrified. Her hand went up and touched her face and to her shock, she was smiling.

"Good night Summer..." She said, and the darkness seemed to eat her alive. She tried screaming but fell short.

Sun light streamed in to the room housing Stasis Kiss who was sleeping under a pile of books, Erika who'd buried her head underneath her pillow and Summer who was looking across the room in utter silence and horror. She knew it wasn't a dream, the polaroid in her hand with the dead cat and her looking through the camera was proof. Something was wrong, damnedably wrong and she wanted to know. The kicker for her was she didn't. She was lost on what this was, she'd never had to really put herself at fault.

The question was, for her at least, was the girl she saw in the mirror herself or some twisted sister she'd never known and wished had stayed that way. Her mind was shot and so was her nerves, she couldn't sleep, couldn't think and couldn't feel anymore. She was dead, truly dead and the only thing she could do in all her fear was look across the room and silently scream at herself. The answer hit her in the face but she wished she didn't know it. It was everyone's fault and her fault as well. She'd finally gone insane, just like every scientist to come out of the isles, she'd finally went off the deep end and this, was not over. She knew, from here on, that the horror was going to last.

Screams came from the hallway, and they echoed in Summer's mind. The only thing she could here was the laughter that it was responding with. Screams and laughter, all the way down the all way.

[Stasis Kiss]

"Timothy!"

What? He turned, craning his neck but couldn't make anything out. In fact, all he could see were heads as he was jostled, half pushed, half stopped in the middle of the hallway between classes.

"Yeah? What?" He figured he had a pretty good chance of being the Timothy in question. He shuffled the textbooks to his other arm and cursed not being taller.

"Timothy!" A surge in the crowd was all the warning he had. In a bright blur of power, Pica was launching herself. He dropped the books just in time to catch the petite girl.

"Mon cher, zhat is such a wonderful idea! I should adore very much to go to zhis picnic with you!" He managed to pull himself together just long enough to blink as a kiss was planted somewhere near his ear. Warm arms wrapped around his neck and she sure smelled nice. Then Picayune was bouncing on her toes before him, her bright eyes shining. Her tie was askew.

"Timothy! What should I wear? I have never gone to a picnic before!"

"Uh..."

"I shall wear a hat, I zhink. Oh, nous aurons le plus merveilleux temps! And a dress, just like Madamoiselle Hepburn."

"Uh. Pica...?"

"Zut, Timothy! I shall not show you, and you should not even ask. Mon gallant chevalier, do you not know it is considered rude to ask a girl what she is going to wear to a party?" She shook a finger at him. "It is bad luck!"

He blinked. What? He hadn't asked.. or said.. or anything. In fact, he was pretty damned sure he had no idea what she was even saying. He was almost positive she'd just called him a Chevrolet though.

"Hey! I'm not a car and it's not a party, it's a picnic! There's a difference, Pica!" He waved his arms without thinking about it.

She clapped her hands and laughed, bouncing one more time on her heels. "Alors, you are so excitable, mon ange. Une picnic zhen and I must wear a pretty dress which means - I must go shopping! Je vous verrai!"

With a wave and flip of her hair, she was gone as fast as she'd appeared. He stared after her.

Then, somebody giggled. He snapped his open mouth shut.

"What are you all looking at?" He glared around and everyone suddenly found other, more important things to be doing. He waited a few more seconds before crouching to gather his scattered books.

On one knee, he started to smile. Then he started to grin, the hair falling to cover his eyes.

Pica was going.

Pica was going to the picnic with him.

[Erika Raeder]

A bit more pressure with the knife blade, and “pop”, Erika’s shoe came free from the classroom floor. She allowed herself a brief smile of satisfaction before turning her attention to the second stuck shoe. The solvent was doing a good job dissolving the superglue, making the job easier than she’d feared. The shoes might not even be a complete write-off.

“It's cheap superglue, it should come off fairly easily,” she heard Timothy say from across the room. She couldn’t see him, of course, because he’d turned invisible. Erika started to wish he’d turned inaudible too when he finished the thought. “Unless you’re too clumsy to use the solvent properly.”

What an insufferable little tool he is, she thought to herself. I can’t believe he’s Barj’s best friend. Come to think of it, Sushi likes him too. Bah… Sushi likes Stasi, so her judgment is kind of suspect anyway. Erika suppressed the thought that Sushi was one of the few people who liked her, too.

“And how do you know its superglue?” Kali asked, making a very good point. They all knew Timothy was responsible for gluing their shoes to the floor, but it would be satisfying to extract a confession before enacting their revenge.

“I can tell by looking. Can't you?” he replied glibly, his voice coming from just a few feet away from where Erika was still attempting to free her second shoe.

Oh, I am so going to kill him! In a sudden fury, Erika picked up her first shoe and threw it hard in the direction of Timothy’s voice. A second later it collided with the far wall, having failed to find its target. Damn it, he must be moving after he speaks, she thought, feeling a little frustrated.

I mean, sure, maybe it hadn’t been so nice of them to tease him about his tail. Then to tease him about Pica, it was way too soon to be teasing him about Pica. But he had no business saying what he did about sleeping with rocks. In front of Kali no less! That was totally uncalled for.

“Looking at the tube in your pocket? or ummm is that your tail again?” Kali continued to question, still trying to trap Timothy.

“No, I'm looking at the floor.”

Erika’s second shoe came free just a second too late for another shot. Surely he would have moved by now. Then a sudden inspiration came. She knew exactly how to flush him out.

“You're going to be getting a very close-up look at the floor soon, Timmykins,” she said with a wicked grin.

“The name is Timothy, not Timmyki... OW!” The shoe connected with his temple making a very satisfying smacking sound. Erika leaped up and gleefully raised her fists in the air.

Another victory for women-kind.