A Walk In The Park (IC)

[Aoiroo]

There's nothing like the sensation of being dragged. It was almost never a pleasant feeling, no matter where the point of contact was, in her case it was her arms that were being pulled. Her shoulders were feeling the strain as she kept pace with forward movement, her back as well since this was a special type of drag that not only pulled her foward, but also downward similtaniously at a rather an awkward seventy degree angle. Though this wasn't the worse part about it, the worse part was that as much as she disliked being drag, there was no way she could pull back, to escape the grasp of her captors who caused her so much discomfort. It wasn't that she physically couldn't do it, neither captor was much higher then two foot five, no, she couldn't bring herself to pull back from their grasps because they were about the cutest little pair of three year olds out there and they knew it, those little demons.

Emilia and Emanuel(or the Evil Ems as she liked to put it), were the youngest and most energetic members of her family currently occupying Freedom City, and they both absolutely LOVED their dear aunt Carrie. In fact, they loved her so much, that any and all family events with them involved usually resulted in her being their designated guardian while their parents took at a break from the joys of parenthood. Today wasn't like the other days though, today she was tricked. Her sister-in-law Carly had said something important had come up, and that she had to get over there by twelve. Now normally Carrie might of questioned it, but they caught her at eight o'clock in the morning, and only being on her fifth hour of sleep so she was only just coherent enough to agree to anything so that she could continue her trip to dreamland. Low and behold three and a half hours later, she is called again as a reminder and has to get dressed and out the door. It was only when she got to their loft that she was told that the important event was that they were showing the Lord of The Rings Trilogy at the local movie house and they needed a babysitter for the day since neither one of the Evil Ems could be expected to sit through all three movies (Carrie couldn't blame them, since she'd never been able to sit through one).

So here she was, in Riverside Park, a convinent place made for loitering that Trent and Carly were nice enough to dump her and the twins off at, and after being squashed inbetween the two carseats in the back of the compact car they refused to upgrade to a proper van until it stopped running completely she was happy to stretch her legs a little bit. But she wasn't doing that at the moment, she was bending her legs, and arching her back, and losing more and more energy as she was dragged by a three year old in each hand. They were mumbling in their high pitched voices incoherently about swings or something which probably meant she was going to spend on a play ground being eaten by every bug in the forest while chasing these little monsters up and down some slides.

Letting out a light sigh as she was pulled along she spotted a bench, and figuring she might need her back and legs for the next few hours she straightened up pulling them back with her, and plopped down onto the smooth wood. She was met with scrutiny in the form of two pairs of eager eyes,

"Come on Carrie, we got to go to the park?"

She was leaning back with her eyes to the sky so she hadn't seen which one had said this since they both sounded so similar when they were excited.

"You got to give me a few seconds, I'm not nearly as flexible as I used to be."

Neither one of them actually understood what that meant, but Emanuel was the first to break after about twelve seconds of silence by giving her hand a tug.

"Let's go!"

She sighed again, but they didn't notice it as she got back up and did some preliminary stretches to prepare her for the next round of toddler induced dragging. It was then that she caught the sight of it in the distance. A small smile, started to etch itself into the corners of her mouth as she looked over at it and then at her brother's offspring, she said in a lighter and very sun shiney voice that she often used with younger kids to give a sense of excitement,

"Hey, you guys want to go see the Sentry Statue?"

She was only met with more crutiny as Emilia spoke up this time,

"No, let's go to the park?"

She nearly rolled her eyes, park to them was synamis to playgrounds, and no one bother to correct them, either way she said,

"You know the Sentry Statue is a pretty popular tourist destination, they often have food stands stationed there to better move product, and I'm sure at least one of them has ice cream."

She needn't say any more, because their eyes lit up instantly with the last two words, and they both said almost similtainiously,

"ICE CREAM!"

Now all three pairs of legs were moving in a new direction. Carrie was no longer being dragged, in fact she had to slow her pace to match their's because of her longer stride and new found bounce in her step.

[Dariusprime]

Ah, ice cream. Now Mona had her share of vices, and if presented, would simply respond that everyone had at least one. Thankfully none of hers were serious. One though was particularly delicious. Nothing better than a scoop of vanilla and scoop of chocolate in a waffle cone after a long day. After coffee, ice cream was her thing.

The funny part of the equation was that she had never noticed the vendors at the base of the statue. Perhaps the sheer size and gravity of the thing drew her attention upward. At first she was unsure if selling her was proper, but 'careful investigation' proved uneventful. In any case it was to her pleasure that she noticed a woman selling homemade ice cream. Which meant at the moment, the eight foot amazon held a half-eaten and comically small cone. Judging from the handful of napkins, this one was at least her third.

"Now this is ice cream."

[Aoiroo]

It was a weekday so foot traffic in the park was pretty low. It was also the one day of the week that the Evil Ems didn't have preschool, but it didn't bother Carrie nearly as much now. Now, she was going to see the Sentry Statue, and though she didn't generally gush in public, the Centurion was pretty the the hero of heros. Not that the Ems cared, they probably didn't understand the concepts of heroes or villians, they didn't even understand the plots of the stories and movies they loved to watch and rewatch. They saw colorful moving pictures and songs that they only partially memorize because they think it's fun. Given, she couldn't expect them too, and she could probably try to explain why the Centurion was the absolute greatest hero their ever was, but the only thing on their mind was ice cream. Though she didn't mind that either, because ice cream was always good.

The line up of stands was pretty low today, their was a prezel and popcorn stand, a hot dog stand, and last but not least, a stand with the words homemade ice cream with a painted picture of a strawberry scoop that notified the Ems right away which was the one they wanted. Pulling from Carries grip they started to run towards the stand and she let out a small half laugh and smile as she watched them go. Increasing her walking pace to catch up with them, she kept her eyes on their backs so she noticed almost immediately as they stopped and turned running back to her side. Stopping half way, she looked at them, and then up to try and see what prompted a reaction.

She saw her almost instantly, she wasn't hard to miss. Fulcrum was one of the heroes of the city who could honestly never hide her disposition out of costume, and she was standing right next to the ice cream stand doing nothing but enjoying a cone.

"Is she the reason you guys ran?"

She didn't get an answer as each one of them took a spot behind her leg. Her eyebrows raised instantly looked at the two of them this time with a reconizable scrutiny that made them move back a little.

"That's horrible, your father's taller then almost every other hero and villian in the city, and you run from the her just because clears the top of the ice cream cart. Both of you are going to go up to her and apologize right now or no ice cream for either of you."

They looked a little reluctant, but the threat was clear so they came with her as she approached the woman that dwalfed her by three feet, and them by five,

"I'm sorry to bother them, but these two have something they would like to tell you."

Backing up, she kneeled behind the two three year olds who had to crane to look up at the heroine in her civilian clothing,

"Sorry."

[Dariusprime]

Truth be told, Fulcrum had been surreptitiously watching the proceedings. She had to keep an eye out. Not only was it her job to jump on any big threat to the city, but she herself was just so big. The two angels/devils/sweeties could easily get trampled underfoot if she didn't stay alert. So yes, she nonchalantly nibbled her ice cream cone as the three approached. In some ways she looked oddly normal dressed in jeans and t-shirt.

At first all she did was lower her cone and wait expectantly with a neutral look on her voice. Once the apology came, however, she slowly knelt down in front of them and smiled, "Apology accepted. It's okay. I know I can be scary sometimes. What are your names?"

While waiting for them to muster the courage, she smiled up to their caretaker. Mother? Aunt? Nanny? No, they looked too much alike. Probably mother or aunt.

[Aoiroo]

Even kneeled down, the woman still dwarfed the three of them (though if Carrie had stood up they'd be able the same height), this continued to make the two children shy, plus the close proximity to the ice cream cart otherwise occupied their attention. Carrie let out a soft sigh before she answered for them,

"Their names are Emilia and Emanuel, though I think they should of been named Lashiel and Lucifer."

The twins looked at each other before turning back to Carrie,

"Ice cream?"

She let out another sigh,

"Yeah, sure, go to the cart and tell the lady what you want, I'll be there shortly. Also, only one flavor, you two are sharing."

They nodded and hurried over to the cart immediately questioning the lady if they had chocolate. As Carrie said under her breath,

"Little demons."

Standing up herself she looked over at the rather large woman who in costume went by the name Fulcrum. Carrie found it a bit hard to place another name to her, though she was sure she had one. Either way she reached out her hand to the heroine and said,

"Hey, I'm Caroline, and those two are the demonic offspring of my older brother Trent."

[Dariusprime]

Bemused was the best way to describe Fulcrum's mood. She seemed pretty used to kids, and lets be honest, even adults being a bit apprehensive around her. Came with the territory. One simply accepted certain facts. Like finding a decent pair of jeans was nigh impossible.

Fulcrum's hand engulfed Caroline's own, but the heroine was surprisingly gentle with the shake. Watching the two order their ice cream, she replied, "Mona. Nice to meet you, Caroline." As they harassed the vendor, she added, "Of course they're demonic. They're your brother's kids." That statement was followed up with a wink.

Standing to her full height again, she worked on finishing off a rapidly melting cone. "What brings you to Sentry this beautiful day, Caroline. Besides ice cream?"

[Aoiroo]

Carrie wasn't too put off by the size difference, her hands were notably dainty, so she was used to her's being swallowed (mostly it occured with other family members).

"That's a nice name."

Though I should probably of heard of it before hand. Maybe I should make a list.

She heard the vendor and smiled quietly as she looked over at the two. The vendor was female, so she was more gushing then annoyed.

"I'm here for a number of reasons, playing guardian is one of them. Given, those two are only here for the ice cream, I'm more here for him."

She looked upward, past Mona, and two the other really large humanoid in the area. His expression firm was he looked into the distance, he looked the same as the images she always saw from the old new reels that she had actually been alive to watch over and over when she was a little girl.

"The Statue of Liberty can eat her freaking heart out."

[Dariusprime]

She smiled, "Thank you. Your name is very pretty too."

Standing up, she looked up to the man himself and sighed. "Yeah, nothing holds a candle to Centurion. Just being a real, flesh-and-blood man is enough, but with his...legacy...it only makes the place more special. I can only imagine how many villains have conspired to do something nasty to that statue."

Sighing and turning more upbeat, she looked back to Caroline. "But I prefer most of the normal visitors. Are you a fan of Centurion or know of him more from history?"

If Caroline had watched much local television, she'd probably have seen Fulcrum in costume. She wore a pattern almost identical to Centurion's, and some local high-up heroes made noises about her being a legacy of legacy. She seemed to be doing a good job, depending on who you asked. At the very least, she was accessible like Centurion. Probably posed for a lot of pictures.

[Aoiroo]

"Of course! The Centurion was the absolute greatest. He was always brave, always good, and could always take on the toughest foe without hesitation, even at the end."

She sort of slowed down at the last two words and looked a little at her feet. It had been seventeen years, yet the whole thing still made her sad just looking back. This sadness was interupted by a tug.

"Carrie, we need money."

She looked down to see the female Em with longing in her voice. This was the same girl who couldn't pronounce her full name yet she had mastered that phrase syllable by syllable, figures. Walking over to the booth she said,

"Cup please, single scoop, two spoons, and of course chocolate."

There was much rejoice from the twins with the last word as she fished out her wallet and forked over the credit card Carly had given her to cover the twins food bill for the day. After the woman swiped the card, gave her the receit and the cup of ice cream Carrie couldn't of pried those two three year olds off of her with a crow bar.

She backed away slowly even with their added weight pulling her down and leaned down ice cream in hand,

"You get this, you have to promise, no fighting over it, you have to sit while you're eating this so you don't trip, if you do drop this, I'm not getting you another one, understood?"

The two both eagerly nodded their heads with their hands extended now free from their chokehold on her legs. She didn't hand them, instead she walked to the bench and motioned for them to sit down onto it. They followed suite and she set the ice cream between them and handed them each a spoon. She was going to say something along the lines of dig in, but it was unnessicary, because they literally attacked it.

Backing up at the scene she gave Mona a side glance,

"Those two are going to be diet dynamos when they get older, I pity the buffet that has to face their wraith."

She gave a light smile as she looked at the two. She was going to get ice cream as she came over, but for some reason she didn't quite feel like it anymore, maybe it was the mornings pop tart acting up on her.

"So, is it true, about the cape I mean?"

[Dariusprime]

Finishing off her own ice cream, Fulcrum smiled and watched the scene unfold. She had almost drifted off into her private thoughts about her sister's younger days when Caroline addressed her. Snapping back to reality, she nodded, "Yes, yes it is. Of all places it ended up was Seattle."

"Funny thing about that cape," she started in, as if she wanted to tell this story, "He lost it fighting Omega. The wake whipped up carried it into the jet stream and all over the world. AEGIS spent months trying to retrieve it from villains. Then at the end it disappeared into the atmosphere again, and they lost track of it. That was about fifteen years ago. Then it sort of just drifted down into my apartment window."

Looking up at the statue, she finished by adding, "Strange thing that. A witness to his final fight ended up with his cape across the country." Fulcrum wasn't much for the concept of fate or destiny, but she did wonder from time-to-time.

[Aoiroo]

When the words Seatle sort of gave her the visual of the woman next to her hanging off the side of the top of the space needle grasping onto the edge of the cape like she was catching a baseball. It was a funny image to be had, but then again, it might make a good poster if she had the time to get the concept design down. Listening to the story further only expanded on the image, a logo faded in the back ground, villians pulling it back, an exploding lair where the cape just floats away and in the very back of it all, the Sentry statue right in the watermark watching as the cape found a suitable owner. When ti came to the end of the story, she had to remind herself she was in fact talking to someone and managed to tune into the start of the last sentence.

"Well it can't be any stranger then a spirit of urban development coming out of the rubble to rebuild a half destroyed city that would of otherwise succumbed to rashes of looting and petty crime like what normally happens in the wake of large disasters."

The idea that Downtown Freedom City would be a post apotialyptic style wasteland if not for the appearance of hero with no clear origin might of made some people shutter, Carrie just listed off the possibility like she was talking about the weather.

"Stuff happens and we as humans sometimes try to give it meaning. But it wouldn't surprise me if their really was no real meaning to any of it, life goes on regardless."

Turning to the twins as they continued to eat, she let out a breath and very casually said,

"So what's flying like?"

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum nodded her agreement with Caroline's sentiment. The idea of Dr. Metropolis rebuilding the city didn't seem to concern her, and she even looked around the park, as if gazing through hazy memories. "Yes, in the end, life goes on. You have to believe in the people, humanity individually and in total."

"Flying," she began with a relaxed sigh, "Flying is like swimming, in a way. No, that's not a good way to put it. It's like being free. Nothing holds you back. You simply go wherever you want at the speed of thought. You know that feeling of peace just floating in a swimming pool? It's sort of like that. I can see why pilots have feelings of awe or religious ecstasy. It's a good place." At some point she drifted off as well, as if reliving moments she felt every day.

Snapping out of it, she added in a whisper, "The twins are too young, but you're welcome to a flight any time. Just don't advertise it. I'd have the whole city lining." She accentuated the latter with a wink and smile, as if saying, she really wouldn't mind so much.

"What do you do?"

[Aoiroo]

Flying sounded nice, she did love just floating in pools for the summer. Looking over at the twins, she knew they wouldn't. She didn't even dare take them up into the Sentry Statue because of how scared they get. But maybe she would try it one of these days, goodness knows if she kept up her little hobby she might be sent that way by some thugs on Max.

"I really don't do anything, not officially anyway. I got out of college two years ago, and since then, I've sort of just been taking a break from it all. It gives me a nice good bit of freedom, though doing nothing does come with a good bit of stress since I have to work regardless. Like watching those two over there."

She pointed at the twins who while eating their ice cream started into a poke fight, which with their chocolated coated fingers resulted in them both being covered with brown spots,

"And now I'm going to have to clean and launder their clothing as well, given if I phone up my mom, old grandma will probably just suggest I buy the two some new clothes for the day. Goodness knows they'll grown out of those by the end of the month, their the first grandkids, so when they outgrow something, they get something brand new. It was the same with me when I was younger, but only because I was always the smallest, and I always grew at a very steady way. My other sibs, nope, they shot up every three years or so, Trent so much so that he needed to get his own wardrobe as well, Allison in a way that she could fit the hand-me-downs of our older cousins from my mom's side."

Letting out a sigh, she looked down at her own outfit. It was a pair of black yoga pants with a red design on the corner with a red trim. Her shirt was a sleeveless red and black striped hoodie. Both of them had been from the hot topic bargin bin, and both of them she had bought a wopping six years ago when they had in fact been on sale. She hadn't actually grown at all since high school, and most of her current wardrobe was the same clothing she had worn throughout college and her senior year in Freedom.

"It's a good thing I had at least one sewing class every year of college, otherwise I would of worn my way out of half my wardrobe."

[Dariusprime]

Mona nodded, "You have to take the good with the bad. Freedom usually means living on a limited budget. Personally, I wouldn't trade it for the world." A last of the little cone disappeared and she wiped her hands.

"Hey, don't feel bad. These things," she said, gesturing to her jeans, "cost almost $300 a pair. If I could buy off-the-rack, I would, but unfortunately my size is a little specialized. I have to repair my own clothes a lot. We're in the same boat there."

Smiling patiently at the twins, she asked Caroline, "What was your major?

[Aoiroo]

Looking at her jeans she took a few paces back and measured the leg lengh with her hand.

"Three hundred, really, you're only about three extra yards if you know how to work the fabric. My mom could probably get you a duplicate for about a hundred twenty, given she's freaking Mcguyver with a sewing machine."

Stretching a little bit she walked back over,

"My degree's in Graphic Design, but all through high school and up until my sophmore year of college I was straight up theatre tech, which sort of comprises all my work afterwards because while Graphic Designers are becoming more of a luxury item to companies now, but theatres always need a spare set of hands. It's how I get my money, and I don't only do tech for those guys either, I paint sets, I make costumes, I've even been cast as an understudy though only for really small roles. Basically, I'm sort of considered the jack of all art trades, master of the only one that's not hiring."

Looking over Mona again, she said,

"You know, I've got a lot of patterns and spare fabrics, I could probably make you a couple of outfits you'd look really cute in."

[Dariusprime]

Mona raised an eyebrow and smiled, "That would be wonderful, thank you. I'll take you up on both offers if you don't mind. These jeans are getting rather threadbare, and I'd love a couple of new outfits. I spend so much time in costume that I sometimes forget that clothing comes in colors other than blue, gold or white."

She nodded in sympathy to Caroline's dilemma, as if reliving earlier parts of her own life. "Yeah, well, don't feel bad. I was in a similar circumstance myself. I earned a Masters of Fine Arts without really thinking of what I would do for a living. My advisers said, 'teach or be an artist', as if it was that easy. They didn't bother to tell me how competitive the fine arts are these days. Thankfully I found out that comic books pay better and are more fun anyway," she chuckled.

"Have you ever considered tailoring or fashion for a living? Sounds like you have the talent and a great teacher to back you up."

[Aoiroo]

Letting out a sigh she said,

"Nah, if there is anything worse then the world of art, it's fashion. You always have to be new, be fresh, and honestly, I just don't like the type of people in the fashion business. I spent four years at an art college, I know what type of artists I can mingle with, and who not so much. Anyway, as long as half naked and high heels are in fashion, I'll never be able to sell anything I make, given, I don't think the shoe thing would be much a problem for you, can't get much higher then where you already are."

Reaching into her bag quietly, she pulled out a round tape measure that the twins did not miss. Emilia was the first to spot it and run over and say,

"Can we play?"

Carrie looked at the measure for a second, before she dropped it in their hands.

"That wasn't the one I was looking for anyway."

With a squeal of delight, she ran back to Emanuel and they both started taking turns pulling it out and pressing the button to let it snap back,

"Thank god I got that one first."

Reaching into her purse, she pulled out unlike the small purple one used for measuring busts a bulky red and black industrial tape measure that went ten feet instead of the normal five.

"Luck favors the unusually prepared I suppose, given, I did have to measure my sis's friends for their bridesmaid dresses not two days ago."

She pulled out the tape and handed one to Mona,

"Hold that in your right at the tip and I'll get your wing span. Fun fact, your total armlengh, and across the chest equals you're height."

After getting her height, she started to pull the rest of the measurements by eye,

"You've got a nice frame, nice legs too, you could probably use some skirts, midlengh or shorter to show off the legs. A corset type thing with some sheer or partially detached sleeves, maybe in nice spring green, or orange would go nicely with you're complexion. Also, some dresses, you'd look nice in a cute halter dress, ohh and long gloves for formal occasions. I love making gloves, plus they feel so nice when they're fitted. One moment, I should probably write this down,"

Reaching into her purse, this time she pulled out a small spiral bound notebook which she flipped through quickly before reaching in again, shuffling quietly and pulling out a pen and started scribbling furiously on the lined paper.

[Dariusprime]

Mona laughed and stretched out the tape as instructed. "I've heard that your wing span is equal to your height before, but I've never actually given it a go." Judging from the mere two feet of loose tape, the bit of wisdom must hold some truth. "Looks like about 8'2" on my end, which would be spot on the money."

Once Caroline was writing, she added, "Yeah, fashion is a weird business, especially by artistic standards. Fashion designers, I swear, have no creativity. Still trying to come up with ridiculous new ways of draping bony women. Which is actually one reason I suggested it. Just the little bit I've heard suggests to me you'd be a breath of fresh air."

"Thank you for the compliments," she replied lightheartedly, "I work out hard to maintain this physique. All of those sound lovely, especially gloves. I enjoy nice gloves too. My costume has a glove set, but I haven't worn them in a while. If I may though, let's not go too short on the skirts. At this height, I've dealt with some very impolite people when it comes to short skits, if you know what I mean." Didn't want to say too much in front of the kids most likely.

[Aoiroo]

"Well, it's not like the world of fashion caters to taste like art does. Most art pieces, some people like them, some people don't, what matters in the artist and his intent and whether that can be seen, but that's not what fashion is about. Fashion is like tv, it's about finding the lowest common denominator and exploiting the heck out of it by attaching things like brand names, and draping them on things like movie stars and rappers so that people will buy things that don't suite them simply because they want to be like that person and share the appeal they have. People who follow fashion trends, rarely ever have any real style, and real style is hard to find today, and when you do, it definitely ain't cheap."

"I don't go much past the knees with skirts unless I've wearing tights, given, that's not much of an option for you, so yeah."

She flipped the page after exing out something on it, and started scribbling again,

"I'll need more exacts for the rest of you're measurements, but that isn't something you really do in the middle of a park. Plus I'll probably need a step ladder for the specifics. I think Trent still has the one I had to used when I was measuring for that jedi costume I made him last year."

Looking at the paper then her,

"Heh, you're about a foot in and a half taller then him, just like he is to me. I'm tempted to introduce you just so he'd have to crane his neck to look someone in the face. Given, I could always just bring him here instead, since everyone has to crane to look up at him."

She did so as she glanced at the face of the Centurion always looking into the distance.

[Dariusprime]

"Is Trent a friend of yours?" she said with a smile while looking up at Centurion's statue. "Anyone that wants a professional jedi costume is off to a good start in my book."

"Besides," she continued, turning back to Caroline, "I've had that experience before a few times. Brings a sense of perspective to a tall person, having someone much, much taller around. Gives them a better understanding of shorter people's personal space. Ever had that problem? People thinking that because you're smaller, you have a much smaller personal zone?"

"Anyway, feel free to introduce us if you want. I like meeting new people." Her eyes lit up and jabbed her thumb up at the statue, "Did you realize that Centurion was six feet tall? He really doesn't look that tall in old photos, unless you have a scale. Compared to modern metas with similar powers, he was actually pretty small in comparison."

[Aoiroo]

She pointed a thumb at the dasterly duo,

"Nah, Trent's their dad, and he's a card carrying nerd. He and his wife dumped these two on me so they could watch a Lord of the Rings Marathon without having them screaming and stuff during it."

She took a quick glance at her watch,

"They're probably halfway through the first one by now. As for me being smaller, one thing you got to understand about my family, I've always been the smallest. Both my parents are taller then me, my dad's a few inches off of six feet, my mom's five six, my younger sister's five eleven in her bare feet, and Trent's a whooping six eight. While my parents and my sister get my personal space, Trent never has. When we were younger, he'd often just stand behind me so I'd run into him when I turned around, he also developed habits like putting his chin on my head as well, he called me shorty for a while too, but I'd always correct him with the fact that I wasn't short, he was just tall. Funny thing about that though, he married a chick who needs three inch heels to meet my eye level."

Looking back at the Centurion with the last statement, she shrugged,

"When I learned he was six feet from research I actually thought he'd be taller, given my perception of what is and isn't tall is a bit warped from a lifetime of always having to look up at the people I spent the most time with. Given, looking down is just as frustrating."

She said the last bit while moving her head slightly in the direction of the twins, who were now wrapping each other in the measuring tape. Looking at them,

"Be careful not to fall, because I'm not untangling you little demons."

[Dariusprime]

Mona slapped her forehead, "I'm sorry, duh. You just told me that. See how good my memory is these days? One too many punches to the head." She chuckled.

"Wow, you definitely inherited from a different side of the family." Offering the tape back, she added, "Most of my family is around your height, so I had Trent's perspective even before my powers. I towered over my mom and dad, and my sister is built just like you."

As for the little demons, she smiled, "Yeah, well, they're really representative of their ages. Tell you what. Once you finish up babysitting, want to grab some dinner and finish up these measurements? We can even sit around and grouse more about the art industry. That never gets old." Looking up at Centurion, she thought a moment, and added, "Those movies are, what, 9-10 hours combined? We should have time today."

A ridiculously small iPhone appeared in her hand, and she looked up to Caroline, "What's your number?" In turn she proved her own.

[Aoiroo]

"Well, for all intents purposes, if not for the fact that I have a copy of my birth certificate I'd accuse them of adopting me."

Well she had actually accused them as such before, just not out loud, but research had proved that they were in fact directly related. Though she didn't go as far as to have a faternity test since that might lead to some other testing that she sort of didn't want to go through with her parents. She didn't doubt that they would accept her regardless, she knew they were, it would just be so darn awkward. Especially since there would be a million jokes at her expense, most of which would probably come from Trent who couldn't keep a secret if it could save his life.

"Dinner sounds nice, you can choose the venue, after all you're probably paying for it. In fact you're almost definitely paying for because I've already paid my bills this month, and unless we're ordering off the dollar menu I'm not going to be able to pick up any part of that tab."

She reached into her purse and held something close to her palm. Opening it she revealed nothing, she did this all while fishing with her other hand and pulling out a small cloth case. Unzipping it, she flipped it a little bit to show an accordian style thing that was labled with letters of the alphabet with various business cards making it a rather functioning portable rolodex. She held the small case up level with the iphone in Mona's hands.

"The company that made mines been in decline for about several decades now, it doesn't get reception anywhere, but it has a ton of storage space. Plus I never mispress a button while texting."

Smiling, she pulled out two precut pieces of paper, one she scribbled down her own number on before handing it off to her, and the other she held in her hand pen as she started to write,

"I didn't get you're last name, mine's Wendle by the way, the endings dle, not dell though."

[Dariusprime]

"Teymourian," she answered with a smile, and spelled it out, "Which is fine. I'll pick up the tab. You've set me up with a really good deal, so yeah."

Paper slip in hand, she entered the number into her phone, "Yours doesn't need charging and is better for the environment anyway." Once entered, the miniature device disappeared into her pocket.

"How about the Riverside Cafe? It's only four or five blocks from here. Really good sandwiches and salads. Not to mention some practically divine coffee." As somehow hungry after ice cream, she smacked her lips. For a split second she stopped, glanced toward downtown, but just as quickly shrugged and turned back to Caroline.

"So if not The Lord of the Rings, what do you prefer?"

[Aoiroo]

"Sounds good, except I don't drink coffee. It bitter, and to be honest I do not really taking in that much caffenine, it's bad for my stomach."

Speaking of stomach it was still acting up, given she didn't show it. She had grown used to it, it was completely empty (another sensation she'd gotten used to) so there was nothing coming up anytime soon.

"I don't go much for what's considered the classics, Star Wars in the lot. Tv has pretty much numbed me to the experience of watching those types of movies movie, there's no real surprise anymore, everyone knows the plot the ending and all the little twists and turns along the way. I honestly have more of a taste for musicals, I'm fond of several modern adaptions made into film like Sweeney Todd and Rent, though I've seen, and well helped out at several modern plays as well. Among my favorites are Wicked, as well as Avenue Q which I actually saw off broadway. Actually I've seen a couple of musicals on and off of broadway, a few weeks back actually I went with my mother and my cousin Eva to see the Addams Family as well as Mary Poppins. Weird thing about the plays, I tend to memorize the songs and well sing along, though too loud of course, I mean the only place I could get away with that is at the Rocky Horror Picture show and even then I'm always drowned out by the drag queens up front."

She felt a tug on her arm and saw Emanuel looking past him she saw a giggle Emilia he apparently mummified with the measuring tape,

"What's a drag queen?"

Leaning down, to his eye level she said,

"Men who like try to look pretty, and sometimes suceed. Now if you want a real laugh, ask you're parents about it after I've left."

The curiousity turned to horror as Emilia joined him.

"No, no, don't go. Stay, we want to play stay."

Together they both started to tug on her arm again,

"Calm down, calm down, I'm still stuck with you for a few hours calm down."

Reaching into her purse she started to dig until she managed to pull it out. Jingling and shining she got out a mass of keychains covered in cute eyed chibis, funny saying and as well as the logo from the Freedom Friends show. Danging the chain in front of them, she took out a mini clip off of it that contained an array of little Disney characters, one such in a pink dress with yellow hair.

"I KNOW YOU!"

The two of squealed as she handed them the smaller mass off the larger set of keychain of the characters and began to play with them like they were full sized dolls. Backing away from the two she let out a sigh,

"Six dollars a chain at the disney store, and worth every penny."