Pic-i-nic Basket (IC)

[Lone Star]

Blake looked up. His heart stopped, and flatlined. "Oh...hi there officer. Umm...sorry. We were just on our way back to the car. Let's, uh...go." Blake said as he got off of Jessica, and started packing up their stuff. He was visibly shaking. Oh crap...why did I kiss her in public like this?

[Raveled]

Jessica scrambled upright and helped Blake hurriedly gather up their stuff. As they half-ran towards the parking lot, she glanced over her shoulder. The police officer was talking to a group of parents, making soothing gestures with his hands. As the pair of them piled into the truck, she glanced over at Blake. He was sweating and shaking a bit, so Jessica felt bad when she broke out into wild giggles. "Oh, God, Blake," she said, gasping for air. "I, uh, think that might be it. Maybe we should call it a day?"

[Lone Star]

"Just. Give me a few minutes. To catch my nerve." he said, his breathing uneven. He sat in the car with her, his breathing slowly returning to normal. "Crap. Crap. I'm so sorry, Jessica. I didn't mean to get us in trouble. I mean, I just got caught up in the moment and- to be fair it was pretty fun." Blake said with a big grin. "Is there somewhere more private we could hang out?"

[Raveled]

Jessica ran out of giggles before long and reached over the center console, resting her hand on Blake's leg. "I'd like to, Blake, I really would, but I think I should get back. I've got some work I need to do before Monday, you know?" She started the engine and was more careful about pulling out of the park, merging smoothly with traffic.

[Lone Star]

Blake's heart jackhammered when she put her hand on his leg. "Yeah, that's fine. I know how that is. Well, even with getting caught, I had a lot of fun on our second date. You're quite adventurous, if I may say." he said with a wink. "You kept your cool better than I did with that cop. I totally thought he was gonna arrest us and I'd have to go Lovecraft and fly outta there. But yeah." he said with a sigh, leaning back into the leather seat. "When would you like to go out again?"

[Raveled]

Jessica smiled widely. "I don't think kissing in public is illegal," she teased him. "He probably just would've given us a lecture and told us to take it to a room." Her eyes stayed straight forward, on the traffic they were moving through, but a blush spread over her face as she thought about herself and Blake in a private room. One more year, Jessica, she counseled herself. All the sweeter for the wait. Really.

Before long they pulled into the Parkers' subdivision and into the drive, Jessica pulling the truck around and to the back where it wouldn't be visible from the street. She shut the engine off and reached over to grab Blake's hand, squeezing it tight. "Um. Do you need me to drive you back to Claremont?" She smiled, showing a sliver of white teeth. "I really wouldn't mind."

[Lone Star]

Blake grinned. "Hmm. Well, I think my roommate is out fighting crime right now. So I think I'll have to show you my dorm room. It's pretty nice. I make up my bed before I go out, so it's pretty organized. Would you like that, Jessica?"

[Raveled]

Jessica smiled over at him and blushed a bit at the thought of herself and Blake in his dorm room, alone. But she still started up the truck and backed out onto the road, eventually finding Route Six and pointing the car south. As they accelerated to highway speed, she rolled the windows up and glanced over at her boyfriend. "So, are all the kids at Claremont superheroes, like yourself?" She'd lived in the city her entire life, but like many residents she had almost no idea what the school was actually about.

[Lone Star]

"Lovecraftian and great kissers? Sure." he said with a devilish grin. "They've all got powers, though. The teachers seem pretty nice, I guess. It just seems strange, you know? A whole school full of supers. It's quite a mixed bag." He didn't want to try to hold her or anything while she was driving, due to the possiblity of a wreck, but he blew her a kiss. "You'd be right at home there."

[Raveled]

Jessica risked glancing over at Blake, a grin on her face. "Nah," she replied. "I'm nothing special, just smart. I mean, the stuff you can do, Blake? Throw fire around and fly and everything else? I'd love to be able to do stuff like that, but all I've got is my armor."

[Lone Star]

"Your intellect is superhuman, Jessica. With the labs we've got down there, you could do anything. You know they'd let you in in a heartbeat. I wish you would at least consider it. Plus, it'd be way easy to sneak out at night." Blake said with a chuckle. He knew she probably wouldn't come down to Claremont, but the possibility made him wonder if she would.

[Raveled]

Jessica smiled slyly. "Don't you use Google, Blake? My dad runs Dawes Tech, and Grandpa used to run it back in the day. I usually use their facilities if I need some serious lab space. Besides," she added, "if you were around I probably wouldn't get much work done."

She cleared her throat nosily. "So, what classes are you taking this semester?"

[Lone Star]

Blake giggled, in the most masculine way he could muster. "Well, I'm just doing my basics right now. I'm taking a few art classes though, so that's really been my relaxation time. It's been really nice there so far. What about you? High-level physics?"

[Raveled]

Jessica shrugged, passing a minivan and changing lanes again. "A little bit of math, yeah, but I'm not really into stuff like that. I mean, the theoretical stuff is cool and all, but I'm more into engineering and programming. I like to do stuff with my knowledge, you know? Not just sit around saying that in a perfect vacuum I can calculate that blah blah blah." She took her hand off the steering wheel long enough to mime a flapping jaw. "Sitting around and just talking about an issue isn't really my way. I want to out and try things and see what works."

[Lone Star]

"If I can be corny for a moment, you can study anatomy with me anytime." He said as he laughed aloud. "But seriously though, that's really cool. I wish I could understand those problems like you do. That stuff is so over my head. I guess all of my mind is in arcane stuff. Sigils, rites, runes, Elder Signs...all of it. It's quite cool though. I know a couple of mystics that work around Freedom City. Oh wow, have you ever met Dead Head? That guy's a riot."

[Raveled]

Jessica tried hard not to pull a face when Blake mentioned 'arcane stuff.' "Uh, never met anyone named Dead Head. At least, not that I know you, you know?" She turned off Route 6 and onto Route 4. "Um. You do know how to get to the school grounds, right? I mean, you don't just fly in and out, do you?"

[Lone Star]

"Of course not! Not every superhero can fly, you know. See, all you have to do is go 88 miles per hour, and then you'll go to the separate dimension the school is hosted in." Blake said with a straight face. "Nah. It's just down this road."

[Raveled]

Jessica grinned slyly. "Eighty-eight miles an hour, right? You're just trying to make your rich girlfriend pay speeding tickets, aren't you?" She pulled into the Academy's access road, rolling slowly up to the solid-looking, wrought-iron fence at the entrance. It was impressive, especially because they remained impassive and locked closed, barring their path. "Um, Blake? You can get me in here, right?"

[Lone Star]

"Uh...of course. Right." This was strange. "I'll call Rift. He'll tell an administrator to let us in." KC pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and looked in his address book for Rift. He dialed the number and put it to his ear. "He'll let us in. Uh. If he's still here."

[Darksider42]

"Dear god I hate Norwegian ice trolls." Warren fumed as he blew a hairdryer on his cloths, little hunks of snow and ice falling from his Duster and onto the small pile of towels surrounding him. "Gonna have to cancel that gig up there." He was wearing a spare pair of jeans and a battered and faded AC/DC shirt while his outfit looked like someone dropped a liquid nitrogen bomb on it. While Warren worked, he heard his phone ring. He shrugged and answered it.

"Hey man. Whats going on? Cultists or something?" Black could faintly hear the hairdryer still going.

[Lone Star]

"Nah, I just...could you let us in? We're just outside the campus. The gate's locked." Blake said as he looked over at her. He smiled, and turned back to the gate. Well. there won't be any making out. Unless...

[Darksider42]

Warrens eyebrow quirked up as soon as Blake mentioned the gate that stood between them and the campus itself. "Locked? Dude, the Campus are usually unlocked. If you are having getting in just fly over it. Warren said as another hunk of frost fell onto the towels. "Wait, you have company? Who is it?" He was hoping he wasn't bringing non-supers into the place. Summers would go ballistic.

[Lone Star]

Blake sighed. He didn't want to embarrass Jessica. "Umm...that girl I told you about? She's superhuman, too. Could you let us in, dude?" Blake put the phone on his leg for a moment. "Jessica, I promise we weren't say anything bad. But...we're guys. Guys talk about girls they like." He said with a smile and pecked her on the cheek.

[Darksider42]

"What girl? Oh! That girl." Sometimes Warren had to wonder how the hell a guy who's superhero name was Kid Cthulhu managed to get lucky with the ladies. Perhaps being smart negated the whole "I'm a musician" thing. "OK man, I'll be down in a few...Try not to do anything too embarrassing." He said with a smirk as he switched the phone off and the hair dryer. He'll be back to getting ice off his stuff soon. He quickly slipped his guitar over his shoulder and left the dorm.

--------------A few minutes later-----------------------

With a rather loud and dramatic boom of sound, Warren appeared on the other side of the gate. His entrence causing the gate to shake as the guitar genus floated a few inches above the ground. "Told you I wouldn't be long." He said as he touched the ground and started trying to unlock the gate. He hoped administration gave him the right key. "Nice to meet you." He said to Jessica as soon as he pushed the gate open.

[Raveled]

Jessica giggled. "Sure," she said. "I'm a superhuman. I'm Super Normal Gal. You can lose sight of me in a crowd of two."

She rolled down the driver's side window and gave Blake roommate -- he'd called him Rift, earlier -- a bright smile. "Thanks for opening the gate," she said, letting the truck roll forward until they were level. "Is there a visitor's parking lot, or can I use Blake's spot, or what?"