Playing at the park [Open]

[maiwolf]

October 31, 2008

She wasn’t expecting much for her birthday. In fact, because she was still so used to Stan – it had only been three years since he’d stopped – she expected much less than birthday presents. In fact, in order to escape the memories of what Stan had done to her for her birthdays, Riley ran away from her house. She had taken a cab a block from her home, and had gone off on her own. Somewhere along the way, the cab had dropped her off. She didn’t remember where, and she didn’t remember when.

It was near noon now. She figured she would call Polly soon, so that Polly didn’t go and try to look for her any more than was necessary. But Aunt Polly shouldn’t worry; Riley went out every day, mostly to escape the memories and mostly to get out of the house. Riley loved exploring. Riley frowned slightly, wondering where exactly she was. She considered taking out her phone to find out, but decided against it. She didn’t really feel like finding out where she was right now.

“Happy birthday to me.” Riley sang under her breath, smiling. She wondered what Mom would have gotten her for her birthday. She smiled with the thought, and turned a corner. She almost ran into a man, but he just walked past her. ‘Some people!’ She thought as she said aloud, “Excuse me, sir.” It wasn’t at all sarcastic.

‘Oh! A park!’ Riley thought happily as she saw what was down the street. The park was awesome; it had four grown-up swings, four baby swings, at least two swirly slides, a rock climbing wall, and a lot of leap-frog rocks. This could easily have been the largest park Riley had ever seen. She abandoned her sulky walk – she would have done so in a minute, anyway – and raced to the park. The park was spectacular!

The swings were open, and Riley loved swings. She was like a little kid in that respect: she loved imagining herself flying when she swung. She had been the ‘champion’ of swing-jumping at her middle-school, and she wondered if she could beat her record. She marked a line where she thought she could jump across in on the sand, then headed for the swing. As soon as she reached the swing she knew something was wrong. In fact, she could see it, but she let on that she had no idea that the swing was being watched. She calmly got on, and started swinging. After four swings – not even high enough to do anything – a boy who was larger than her came and grabbed one end of the string.

“Hey!” She cried, jumping off expertly. “I was swinging!” She’d play along for now.

“This is my swing!” The boy sneered, and sat down on it. He started swinging. She scowled at him, but in reality she was elated. The boy had no idea.

“I’m sorry!” Riley replied, backing away. “Are these swings yours, too?”

“Of course!” The boy said, but did not move from that swing.

Riley shrugged, and as she turned around, she smiled. She’d make the boy feel guilty. She wasn’t mean; she just had to teach him a lesson. She went to the baby swings, and pretended to play on them. When he got high enough, she noticed he was preparing to jump. What a dolt. He couldn’t cross her line for his life. She pretended her foot had gotten stuck, and she started to pull it out of the baby swing. The boy readied to jump, and she miraculously pulled her foot free. She staggered backward, and fell right where the boy landed. Of course, she didn’t feel any pain, her shield saved her, but the boy was scared out of his mind.

Of course he ran. Riley doubled up laughing, which could look to someone afar like she was hurt, and miserably so. But she was not hurt, not even a scratch. The plan had been perfect! Now people could use the swings again. She considered on what to tell Polly, and if her adoptive parent would allow that. ‘Aunt Polly, a kid fell on me today!’ She thought, still laughing.

[carla]

Carla was at a loose end. Sam was at work, and none of her friends were around to hang with, so the only thing she could think of to do with her time was to go to the local park. She loved the park, she could be herself and she could relax there.

As she arrived she already saw a couple of people there. One looked like a younger girl and the other looked like a young boy, so Carla stood back for a while and watched the scene unfold in front of her. It looked like he was possibly bullying the girl from where Carla stood and if need be, she'd use her telekinesis to frighten him away.

However, watching the scene unfold in front her it was pretty obvious the girl was able to take care of herself. Carla couldn't help but laugh out loud when she saw the boy run away. However with what happened, it did look like the younger girl had hurt herself, but she seemed to be looking just fine to Carla. She walked up to her after the boy had run off and smiled.

"Neat work by the way" and then she reached for one of the swings and started pushing herself back and forth. "Do you always treat bullies like that? Because if you do, I might just be tempted to make you my new bodyguard" Carla said teasing slightly and followed it through with a laugh.

[maiwolf]

Riley didn’t know what to say when a woman, no, she was only slightly older than herself, walked up and planted herself on a swing. She’d won that swing fair and square! It wasn’t fair, as soon as she got rid of the bully, her swing got stolen! But she turned and looked the woman in the eye. Did this woman somehow know that she had an ability? Or was she just making fun of the boy? Or both?

Riley sat up, still looking at the woman… no, she was definitely still a teen. “What are you talking about?” She asked, and grabbed a handful of sand inconspicuously. If she was one of those child-hunters, Riley knew she had another thing coming.

Riley had never told anyone about her ability, never except for her mom, who had probably leaked that her daughter was ‘special.’ Riley had also never thought about it near anyone who she thought had powers. Yes, she knew about the abilities that people had. But today was her birthday; she was supposed to not have a care in the world. Seems like she was wrong about that. This teen, this… whats-her-face, she knew something about Riley. Could she work for the Company?

Riley studied her, and then let the sand out of her hand. The teen would not do anything wrong. In fact, Riley could tell she had just been joking. She smiled, but the smile didn’t reach to her eyes. She was too conscious of the other girl. She walked quickly over to the other swing, and started to swing. She focused her mind on the swinging, and jumping past the mark on the ground. Said mark was smudged away from her tussle with the boy.

“So,” Riley said finally, turning to watch the girl as she swung. “What ability do you have?”

[carla]

"I just meant that you handled that bully well, it was damn impressive, that's all" Carla said when the younger girl asked what she had meant by what she said to her. She noticed the girl didn't seem to be very trusting of Carla. Like she wasn't sure about Carla or something. Not that she could blame the younger girl, Sam was always warning her about thing and about being careful.

Carla really hoped she hadn't frightened the girl in anyway, or did anything to cause her to be scared of her, or wary of her. After all Carla was a really sweet girl, she wouldn't hurt anybody, well unless they were hurting her, or her brother, then that someone would pay, and big time. The next thing Carla knew the girl was asking what ability she had.

"Ability?" Carla asked, pretending she didn't know what the girl was talking about at first. She didn't think for one minute the girl had used any powers on scaring off that bully boy, but then Carla realised she must have and that's why she was so weird with her. She was obviously worried that Carla had known she was using an ability and was immediately worried about it.

"Oh, so you were using an ability to do that? I honestly thought you were just good at defending yourself" Carla explained and laughed ever so slightly. "But I do have an ability as it happens, I have telekinesis" she replied and smiled at the younger girl.

[maiwolf]

Riley’s eyebrows rose when she heard the girl’s first statement. Maybe she was just being too sensitive, or maybe it was just because it was her birthday. She didn’t want anything to go wrong on her birthday. And so far almost everything had. She’d told the teen all about her ability because she had come to the simple conclusion that the girl had figured out that she had had an ability.

Now Riley knew this was not the case. The girl had just surmised that she had figured out a way to scare off the bully while managing not to get hurt herself. Riley cursed at herself. If only she had been more inquisitive! If only she’d been wise enough to keep her mouth shut! But she didn’t care now, her secret was out. Riley smiled, and now the smile was genuine.

“Telekinesis? Does that mean…” Riley thought for a bit, “You could move things? Like, could you move me?” Riley had always wanted to feel the weightlessness that came with moving through the air. That’s why she strove to jump farther and farther from the swing. She wanted to fly. But her power was not flight, it was a shield. Why the heck would Riley want a shield when little kids could have much more fun flying?

Riley shrugged, and swung higher. “I’m a shield.” Riley jumped off the swing and picked up a stick that had found its way onto the sand. “Watch this.” She said, and dug the stick as close to her skin as she could get it. It didn’t hurt, nothing did until it had been pounding her for hours, but the girl wouldn’t know that. She gave up. “I can’t be hurt… until a certain amount of time, or poundings. It’s the same with my mind. I don’t think anyone can penetrate it.”

Riley shrugged. “And today is my birthday. First I’m scaring some boy, and next I give away my most precious secret to someone I don’t know. I guess it comes with growing up, telling everyone your secrets.” Riley shrugged. “So let’s start off. Hi, I’m Riley. I’m a shield.” Her tone suggested sarcasm, and she was smiling. Riley held out her hand to shake.

[carla]

Carla remained quiet for a short time, as the girl she was speaking to seemed to go a little quiet also. She was probably trying to figure out if Carla was a good or a bad person. Carla knew there were a lot of people out there with abilities like she had, but she also knew the biggest majority of them kept it to themselves for obvious reasons.

Carla laughed gently when she asked her about her ability and if she could move her. Well of course Carla could move the younger girl with her power, but she still hadn't mastered how to do it without causing harm to a person. She still had to master that part yet. "Yes it does mean I can move things, and yes I could move you, but I've not quite mastered the art of moving people without hurting them, or I would demonstrate" Carla said and grinned.

Instead she concentrated on a spare twig from a tree which was lying near them, and made her mind move it, by lifting it up and throwing it away as if she was throwing it to a dog to fetch. "But I can show you how to do that, at least" she said with a smile. She didn't want to do too much more, because recently when using her telekinesis power she was getting bad headaches after it.

Carla listened and watched as the younger girl spoke of her ability, and what it could do. Seemed a pretty impressive power she thought. How come Sam had the ability to heal himself, and most other people she met had these awesome powers, such as protecting themselves, and she gets the power to move things with her mind.

"Well, you know that is kinda impressive, being able to take care of yourself in such a way, how far does it work? I mean can you only use it on yourself or can you use it on others?" Carla asked, not wanting to be nosy, she was just interested in such a fascinating power. "If I'm not asking too many questions that is" Carla added, just so she wouldn't be annoying the girl.

"Your birthday? Awesome" Carla said, and grinned, "Hey don't worry about it, guess you were lucky I'm like you really, hey since it's your birthday, want to go somewhere and I'll buy you a nice cake or ice-cream or something?" Carla asked grinning, she didn't mind and it would be a nice gesture to help the girl celebrate her birthday, plus, it could be the beginnings of a friendship and Carla could never have too many friends.

Carla laughed as she began to introduce herself giving her power as well officially. Taking the offered hand, Carla grinned, "Well I'm Carla, sister of Sam" she said and rolled her eyes, and then laughed, "and I have telekinesis" she added. Carla hoped this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

[maiwolf]

Riley smiled, "Hello, Carla!" She shook Carla's hand, and felt instantly better. So she had gotten the fact that Carla had an ability right, but it wasn't the ability that she had thought at first. She thought Carla's ability was reading minds, or something. At least she felt better. She hadn't put her shield up, not that she really needed to 'put up her shield,' but it couldn't have hurt to think that her shield was up. At least now she didn't have to worry about the girl reading her thoughts.

Riley's smiling look took on a bit of a frown, and she asked unbelievingly, "Would you really take me to get ice cream?" (( And since we've changed Riley from being Elle's cousin to Elle's sister... )) Elle wasn't really around much nowadays, that's why she didn't come and say 'happy birthday' to her. Elle would have loved to celebrate her birthday, but of course she was gone. The Company had stolen her life.

"You think we could go to some nice ice cream place? I've only ever been to one that I remember, and I don't really like that ice cream." Riley said, shrugging. "But you really don't have to. I don't even know you, and you're older than me! I find that somewhat weird."

But of course, Riley's eyes were lit up in expectation. She hadn't had ice cream in a while. She could really do for that cool treat. Then, absentmindedly remembering what Carla had asked about her ability, she waved it off. "Yeah, I can fit my ability around as many people as I choose, and who I choose. Of course, the more people I fit it around the harder it gets to control. I could show you now, or later, of course. That ice cream is sounding really good!"

[carla]

Carla grinned when Riley said hello and shook her hand. They had now officially met, and even though she was slightly younger than Carla, quite possibly Riley could be a new friend for Carla and Carla was looking forward to having a new friend in her life. Especially one who looked as cute and adorable as Riley obviously did.

Carla grinned when Riley asked if she would really take her for some ice cream. "Yeah, of course I'll take you for some ice cream, haven't made a friend in a while" Carla said, hoping that the younger girl wouldn't mind the fact that Carla was slightly older than she was.

"Yeah, sure we can go to a lovely ice cream place I know of" Carla said as she began to get off the swing and walk, "And I don't mind you being slightly younger, I was hoping you wouldn't mind me being slightly older" Carla said as she pouted slightly and then began to laugh. Holding her hand out for Riley to take, "Come on, you might not know me, yet, but you can get to know me" she said almost in a sing song voice as she began to head toward the place which sold the best ice cream as far as Carla was concerned.

Carla would be very interested in learning more about Riley's ability, but it seemed the chance of ice cream was a far greater thing in Riley's mind than showing off her power right at this minute, and how could Carla argue with a girl on her birthday? "It's fine Riley, you can show me more of how your power works later, I think ice cream is a must" Carla said and laughed, as she looked back to see if Riley was going to take her offered hand.

[maiwolf]

Riley took Carla’s hand quite happily. The thought of ice cream, and eating it, was overpowering. Carla was going to get her ice cream! And on her birthday! Nevertheless, Riley felt a jerk in her stomach. What was she going to do back to Carla? Riley had been taught, among other things, to be nice to people. Remember the golden rule? ‘Do unto others as they would do unto you.’ Riley would do that. Carla wanted to know about Riley’s power, and Carla seemed nice enough. The walk to the ice cream shop… well Riley didn’t know how long that would take, but it would be long enough.

“Ice cream aside.” Riley said, grinning. The thought of ice cream made her feel giddy. The last time she had had ice cream at an ice cream shop was when Elle took her, and that was months ago. “You wanted to know about my power. I’ll show it to you.”

Tentatively, Riley made her shield crawl across Carla’s arm. She could feel it settle on the contours of one half of her body, and knew when it crested her head, and when it enveloped her legs. She could feel it pop into place on Carla’s other side, like an invisible air bubble. She also knew that Carla couldn’t feel a thing, and that Carla would probably be wondering if Riley’s power was a power at all. Riley smiled, satisfied, and stopped to pick up a stick. Her hand slid from Carla’s and the shield instantly floated over Carla’s hand. She handed the stick to Carla.

“Try to hurt yourself. Go on, I promise it’ll do nothing to you.” Riley said, confident in her powers.

[carla]

Carla was glad when Riley took her hand, it made the new friendship seem more real. The only problem with this new friendship was the obvious age difference, but Carla wasn't going to let it bother her, and she hoped that Riley wouldn't either. If nothing else, Carla could look to Riley as a younger sister.

"Ice cream is awesome of course, but yes I'd love to see your new power" Carla said with a grin. She wasn't sure what Riley was doing to make her power work, and to be honest, if she had done anything at all, Carla certainly couldn't feel it nor see it. She thought that pretty strange at first. But then if it was a shield, like a force shield, then the chances were you wouldn't see it, that would be the idea of it Carla imagined.

Then Riley picked up a stick and told Carla to try and hurt herself with it. So she took the stick from Riley's hand and jabbed it, or at least tried to jab it into her hand. Nothing happened. It was amazing.

"Now that is what I call an awesome power" Carla said and grinned.

[maiwolf]

Riley watched as Carla tried to injure herself. Good, it was working. She would have been upset if Carla jabbed at herself and hurt herself. But she realized now that she shouldn't have not doubted her ability. "Don't jab anymore." She said warningly, "I'm going to take my shield from you. I don't want to waste my energy." She could feel the shield pulling from Carla's body even if she couldn't really feel it. She knew it was there.

Then she started walking again. The sun was shining. The day was beautiful. She had a friend that wasn't actually imaginary. She had made a bully run away. And she was going to get ice cream! "How far 'till the ice cream shop?" She asked, turning backward so she could walk backward and talk to Carla at the same time. The thought of ice cream was really inviting right about now.

[carla]

Carla nodded her head, "Alright, I'll stop, but still, that really is a rather awesome power you have" Carla said again, what with Sam being able to heal himself and now her new friend being able to protect herself, Carla was beginning to feel a little, just a little bit inferior, as she felt her power didn't really do anything that special. Sure she could move things with her mind, but it didn't heal her, nor could it protect her. She had an awesome brother and now she had an awesome friend, all she needed now was the awesome boyfriend to go with it.

"Well I don't want you wasting your energy" Carla agreed with a laugh, she didn't feel any different, so she wasn't sure when the shield was on her nor when it was off again.

Carla couldn't help but laugh when Riley asked excitedly how far the ice cream shop was. "Not far, just round this corner" Carla said as she walked round the corner and there it was in front of them. Traditionial Italian Ice Cream by Notrianni, "This is the best place ever" Carla said as she opened the door and grinned at Girogio.

"Hi Giorgio" Carla said giving him a smile.
"Signorina Carla, bella la Carla" he said with a warm smile, "Take seat, I will come take order in minute" he said his Italian accent very strong.

[maiwolf]

Riley turned the corner backward, and so didn’t see where they were heading. She turned around when she slammed into a pole, and rubbed the back of her head. “Ow. I gotta watch where I’m going.” She said, smiling. She ran into things a lot, even if they weren’t always run into when she was backwards. Normally it was when she was reading books. She continued to rub her head as she looked up at the ice cream place. “Oh!” She cried in astonishment.

Then: “Oh, I’ve always wanted to try this place out.” Riley said, awed as she looked at the outside of Traditional Italian Ice Cream. She licked her lips in anticipation. “This is great!” She said as she was ushered inside. “I can agree with the best place ever, or at least I will when I get some of their ice cream!”

Riley found a seat, and sat down promptly. She was happy. She liked the prospect of ice cream, liked that it was for her birthday, and liked even more that she was sharing her birthday with a friend. She bounced in her seat, wanting to eat ice cream already! But then she stopped. “Uh, Carla…?” She asked tentatively. “I don’t have any money. I can’t pay for my ice cream!” The thought of watching Carla eat the ice cream and her … not eating the ice cream made her insides twirl.

[carla]

"Oh Riley, you really need to watch where you're going, you could really hurt yourself" Carla said when she saw her friend walk into a pole and bang her head.

Then Carla began to laugh when Riley became excited about the Traditional Italian Ice Cream shop. It was the best place ever to get ice cream, Carla couldn't deny it. So she was glad she was able to make Riley happy by bringing her here.

"I'm glad you like the idea of coming in here" Carla began with a grin, "And I'm sure you will still love the place once you've tasted their ice cream, it's delicious" Carla said grinning again. She couldn't wait until she had some to eat again. They did many flavours, but Carla always opted for the vanilla, in her eyes it was the best.

When Riley was upset about the cost, Carla just smiled at her, and leaned over the table, "Silly, I wouldn't have said I was bringing you for ice cream if I was expecting you to pay for your own, don't worry about it, this is my treat, okay?" she said and grinned, as Giorgio came over to them.

"Bella la Signorinas" he began with a warm smile. "What I get you bella la Carla and?" he said as he looked at Riley with a smile.

"Girogio, this is my new friend Riley, it's her birthday" Carla said with a grin.

"Ah, bella la Riley" he said, "What I get you bella la Carla, Riley" he asked again.

"I'll have my usual Girogio, vanilla please" and then she looked at Riley. "What would you like Riley, tell Giorgio" Carla said with a grin.

[maiwolf]

Riley's mouth hung open. Actually, in fact, it wasn't just her mouth that hung open. It was her mind. What king of ice cream would she want? Normal ice cream places (or at least the only one she had been to) had only chocolate and vanilla. Could this place have more than that? Riley didn't know what she wanted. She had always asked for mixed. But she wasn't feeling the need to eat mixed. In fact, her mouth was watering for something different.

Riley schooled her awed expression, and looked at Carla, smiling mischievously. "Only vanilla?" Then she turned to Girogio and asked politely, "Do you have cookies and cream, or chocolate chip cookie dough? If not, do you have chocoalte-vanilla mix?" She wasn't picky. Far from it, she had learned to not be picky in the course of her life time. Instead, she just chose what she got. "Surprise me, please!" She finalized, laughing. "I like surprises on my birthday. And thank you!"