ic Unstill Life

[Electra]

Raina walked to the front of the bus and dug into the cooler that held the drinks for the "hydration replenishment break" that was hero high code for "snacktime." She grabbed a bottle of water, then shrugged and snagged a chocolate chip granola bar, an apple and a package of ranch-flavored tortilla chips as well. Girl hadn't eaten for a couple hundred years, she might be hungry. "Here you go, Fred," she offered as she walked back down the aisle. "A little food and water will get your stomach settled down, and maybe you can chill for a few minutes before everybody else gets back." She handed the statuesque girl the food, then opened the bottle and handed it over as well. "You're probably better off just not trying to think too far ahead for now. Somebody will take care of things for you." 

Edited September 28, 2015 by Electra

[Thunder King]

Hannah sat down, grateful that they were helping this poor girl out. She reflected that though the girls were rough and a bit uncouth, they were still trying to be good people and help the poor girl. She wondered if any of those other girls would be doing this, the way these girls were. Reassuring her, giving her food and water, comforting her...

"They will try to help you. I mean, I'm a pretty regular girl from this time period, but I know that there are all sorts of people in this city, someone will help you. I know it must be hard." 

[Gizmo]

Robin's talk about alternate dimensions and alien worlds might as well have been in another language to Winifred so she instead focused on the offer to bring her outside. "Ah, no, thank you. I think I should like to minimize the amount of time I spent being carted about like a sack of flour, much as I appreciate your seeing to my current infirmity." She managed a small smile and was about to respond to Cathy when Raina handed her the small pile of snacks. She looked from the foil wrapped rectangular prism to the puffy sealed bag with its garish logos advertising an 'explosion of flavour' to the ribbing up and down the plastic bottle and took a slow breath.

"...apples," she said finally, holding up the fruit in one hand while she cradled the bottle of water in the other, eyes squinting with the effort of staying calm and focused. "I am... familiar... with apples." She took a sip of water that turned into a long, messy pull as she realized how dry her throat was, ending with her wiping the corner of her mouth with the sleeve of her borrowed jumper. "You made a bucket appear with a wave of your hand," she pointed out to Hannah with a cough, a little embarrassed by the minor mess she'd made. "'Regular' has perhaps taken on an ironic secondary meaning in recent years?"

[alderwitch]

"We go to a school for kids with 'special abilities'," Robin said, lifting her hands to make the quote fingers around the special abilities. Her hands slapped back down on her thighs, "Cathy can control cold and snow and ice - and make it - and Hannah has this nifty light thing she does that you've seen. Raina does actual magic." Robin provided, gesturing at each girl in turn. Her sigh was soft, "And I'm Robin, if I didn't say so already. I spend my time punching bad guys in the face in the bad part of town and have survived it so far."

Her smile turned up slightly, tugging at the healing split lip. "Though, in Hannah's defense, she probably feels pretty regular. Some of the kids at our school are pretty out there. Like, kids of gods and stuff."

[Thunder King]

Hannah smiled in earnest. "We're all a little weird in our own way, but the school celebrates that, and helps us learn how to use what we have." Then she cringed slightly. That sounded about the cheesiest thing she'd ever said. She needed to stop doing that. "Plus they're going to help me figure out how to do more with what I can do. It's more than just buckets." She didn't say what she was thinking, which was; "If you go to the school, you won't feel as odd and you'll learn to control the monster"  but that seemed insensitive. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Cathy gave a little shrug with talk about being normal. Looking how she did no one could ever think of her as normal, it bothered her more in this big city than it did back home.

"Well I've been like this for quite quite while so normal been on the strange side for all that time. Though I've not quite got a handle on all my powers. That why I'm come all the way over here from Scotland, though it's nice to be around people my own age with powers." 

She looked around at he other girls with a smile, she felt that right now she was among friends.

 

[Electra]

"Here." Raina took back the granola bar and peeled it open to reveal its contents before offering it to Winifred again. "It's kind of like a cake with oats and honey and chocolate chips. You'll probably like it. Maybe not so much with the Doritos," she allowed after a moment's hesitation, "but you might, if you like salty food. But you've gotta eat after big magic, or you'll pass out." She opened the Doritos as well, took one and ate it to prove they were good, then passed the bag over. "Nobody here is normal," she told the girl, "but neither are you. When you're strange yourself, it's easier to get along with other weirdos than with normal people. May as well just sit tight and see what can be done for you, right?" 

[Gizmo]

Winifred took a look at the unusual colour of the the proffered chips and decided to limit her experimentation to the bar of 'cake', letting the apple sit in the lap of her makeshift skirt, more useful for the time being as a tangible, recognizable object than as food. "Well, if one is going to be flung traumatically forward in time by a century and a half, you seem an extraordinarily fortunate group to which to awake. Thank you." Chewing the bite cautiously she decided she was hungry enough that the taste and texture were really beside the point either way. Swallowing she added, "Did you see what caused me to depetrify in the first place? It's all quite foggy..."

Headmistress Summers chose that moment to arrive back at the bus, walking up the pair of stairs with silent footsteps. "Funny, I only remember excusing Chevalier to accompany our new friend to the bus," she drawled before raising a hand to forestall any hasty excuses. "I'm glad you all wanted to help. How is she?" She directed the question to the entire group but looked directly at Winifred with an analytical but not unkind eye.

[Tiffany Korta]

“We finished the assignment so we thought we’d all come and help out.” Cathy jumped off the seat she’d been standing on to open the window and brandished the filled sheet like some sort of shield.

“We’ve been gently breaking the news of what happened to her.” she hoped her little lie, well more a massaging of the truth, sounded convincing “All things considered she seems to be adjusting okay, as much as you can after such news.”

She wasn’t sure how to tell Fred about what happened when she woke up, someone a little more direct that herself that was true.

[alderwitch]

"Raina kissed the statue you were stuck in when I dared her to," Robin told Fred helpfully, "And then it exploded. But Raina's magic so its probably because of that. She knows spells and stuff and I'm pretty sure there a whole bunch of fairy tells about waking people up with kisses." She paused and added, "But there wasn't like, tongue or anything, really. Much."

Robin gave Winifred's shoulder a gentle pat as the Headmistress arrived, "She's okay. She's not thrown up or passed out or anything. Winifred was stuck in that statue a really long time. Almost a hundred and fifty years. We're taking her back to the school, right? I told her that you could help her."

The challenging tone was back, but this had less to do with the headmistress and entirely came from Robin's inherent mistrust of anyone who smacked of the system. She wasn't sure herself whether or not to buy into the promises that Claremont made. The Fens native remained distinctly on the fence.