Lisi Wales's Story

Caleb had left the main room long before Cosmo had begun his story of magic books and spells. He lay on his bed that he'd been given when he came here a few weeks ago, and stared up at the ceiling. His stuffed Tiger sat in the crook of his arm, and he fiddled gently with the ring he wore on his right ring finger.

He sighed and sat up, turning so he could lean against the wall the bed was against, and so he could get more comfortable. Unable to do so, however, he sighed again, thumping his head against the wall with a thud. He picked up his stuffed Tiger and stuffed it in one of his jacket pockets, walking out of his room and back downstairs to where Cosmo had finished his little speech.

He let out a small scoff at Cecil's response to Cosmo's bringing him up. But whatever, he walked past the room to one of the other sitting rooms and found a comfortable chair to sit in, a book nearby. He tilted his head, and reached for it, curious as to its contents.

((OOC:: Don't forget to tag who is in your post, everyone; it lets the writer(s) know that you've posted about their character!))

Cecil had heard the scoff being directed at him. His eyes narrow as he watches Caleb walk by, considering whether he should trip him or not. Looking down at the sleeping girl with her head in his lap, he decides that she might be upset if she found out that he tripped someone. He grumbles under his breath and looks down at his phone. "You guys hear about the witches wandering the forest lately? It's a trend now apparently. Young witches come into the forest and do spells and shit."

His language earns a smack from the little girl who was previously asleep on his lap. Lucy yawns and sits up, frowning at him. "Don't say bad words! And I'm sure the witches are nice witches. Right?"

Cecil makes a face at her. "Dunno. Sounds kinda fishy to me. Y'know since most of us have useful abilities, someone's gonna come looking for us eventually. Could be one of those witches." He looks down at her, grinning, and wiggles his fingers menacingly. "Maybe they'll come for you, next, Lucy." This gesture causes some of the children to cower, but Lucy just giggles and pats his face.

{ ooc: oops! i forgot about that ;; sorry! }

Lisi sat in the main room giving Cosmo every ounce of her attention that she could manage. She had always loved listening to his stories, they were just so interesting! Lisi was sure that no matter how long she lived here, she'd never get tired of them.

When the story was finally over, Cosmo began to speak about the children's powers and how some people may try and take advantage of them. Lisi herself didn't have any powers, but many of the children here did. She could practically feel the worry rolling over the younger ones of the group after the wizards speech was over. However, the mood quickly changed once Cosmo pointed out Cecil.

Lisi couldn't help but giggle at the exchange between Cecil and Lucy, but she could tell that some of the younger kids were still on edge a bit. As one of the older members of the household (Although you'd never guess from the way she looks and acts), Lisi decided to help try and lighten the mood.

"Don't worry you guys! Lisi doesn't have any powers, which means if witches do come after us, they won't care about me. So then I can focus all my energy onto saving you guys!" Finishing the statement with a big smile and a confident twirl, Lisi looked at the children gathered around with determination.

Turning to face Cecil now, Lisi tilted her head curiously before asking him a question that just popped into her head. "By the way, don't you like detective novels? Then don't you think that it would be fun to investigate suspicious people in the woods? You could be like a real detective! Detective Cecil!" She cried out happily while jumping up and down a couple of times.

With it being so cold outside, Willow hadn't stepped outside at all so far today. Instead, after snagging something yummy to eat she had turned into her cat form and proceeded to chase down hugs from whoever would give them. Now though, the snow white kitten was curled up in front of the fire, so close that she might as well be in the fire itself. In fact, she sometimes rolled close enough to the flames that she would have singed herself were it not for Sapphire constantly moving her away slightly whenever she was in danger of that.

The blue-haired young man was sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, preferring to leave the comfy chairs for everyone else. His legs were pulled up in front of him, a book resting open against them. He was reading it, though keeping an eye on Willow, one hand resting near the girl-turned-cat, the other turning pages when he needed to.

At the mention of the possibility of people being in the woods, he looked up sharply, memories of his past flooding his mind for a moment before he pushed them back and locked them up once more. "If there are people in the woods we should try to drive them out, right?"

Willow perked up at this, popping into her human form quickly, though thankfully her hair covered parts of her now naked self. "Oooh! Let me at 'em!" With this, she mimed punching the air a few times before a dark blue jacket settled around her shoulders.

Turning her head to the side, she blinked a couple of times at Sapphire's slightly flushed face. "Put something on, Willow."

"Nuh uh! Don't wanna, meow~" With this she scooted away from Sapphire who had now turned his face in the other direction, the blue-haired teen refusing to look at the white-haired cat-girl.

Upon Lisi's mention of Cecil's love of detective novels, he perks up. "You're right! You're so right, Lisi." Just like that, he stands, brushing himself off. "You know, for someone who doesn't have an ability, you have some really good ideas." He grins and unbuttons his vest, tossing it over to Willow to wear. It gently flutters down onto her head. "I think we should do some looking around, and Detective Cecil does have a nice ring to it. Who wants to come with me—other than Willow, who has graciously offered her help."

"Meee! I do!" Lucy shoots onto her feet, hopping up and down and waiting her arms in the air. Her pigtails bounce with every jump. Her excitement is short-lived, though, because Cecil puts a hand on her head, which causes her to stop jumping.

"I can't let you go out there, Lulu. You're still just a kid, y'know?" He ruffles her hair gently to soften the blow of his words. "You might be better off staying here with the younger crowd. I think I'm gonna need someone like..." He turns his head back and points to Sapphire, a charming smile on his face. "Sapphire, the boy with the lovely shade of pink on his face."

Lucy pouts and stomps her feet. "But I wanna go! Just 'cause I'm young doesn't mean I can't do stuff! I have an ability, too! Mine is better than your dumb ability! Anybody can do what you do!" She sticks her tongue out at him. The brunet, who usually would have spit venom back at anyone who said that to him, simply smiles down at her.

"You don't mean that. And you still can't come. Anyone else?" His words aren't meant to hurt. Simply, that's his nature. The reason he won't let her go is good-natured, since he doesn't want her to get hurt... or worse—he wouldn't want to run into the orphanage overseer they ran away from, because God knows he's been looking for them.

Even if Rhys hates being among a lot of people, he loves hearing the older ones talking, so that's why he heard everything from the tale Cosmos spoke. Things that seemed like fiction, but he actually knew they were not. Magical and adventures stories were always his favorite ones.
He even clapped loudly when Cosmos had finished the tale, and his hand directly got to where he laid his pocket videogame. Rhys only has two games to play, and won the second in an internal contest with another child, but he played and played then for years. But the pocket videogame wasn't where it would be supposed to be.
"Where is it... where is it?" He was worrying in murmurings, the thinking speaking louder than he wanted to. The pocket videogame already were his best friend in the worse moments, like when he couldn't sleep, afraid of the storms and the strong thunderbolts.
"Where did I lose it..." he was even starting to cry.

Faye Chalmers

Faye sat quietly towards the back of the room as Cosmo told his story in the main room by the fire. The children gathered there had been listening intently. Faye had leant her head on her hands enjoying the tale. She loved stories of all kinds, she loved to read new tales in the many books that resided in this house. She especially adored the romance novels.
Her heart thumped for a moment as she thought of the stories she had read, all the main characters had a close companion, a lover, a mother, a father even a friend.

She sighed. She was too nervous to make any friends. Her books were her friends.

She brightened as Cosmo directed his attention towards Cecil. Sitting up a little bit Faye looked towards the boy as he sat comfortable with a younger girl on his lap. Lucy.

All this talk of witches made her a little uneasy.

She watched quietly as Cecil began to gather companions to his detective regime, Sapphire and Willow stood to follow. Seeing Sapphire's red cheeks made her smile. She wondered if she turned as red as that when embarrassed. It seemed like fun

Listening to the chatter around her Faye heard a slight tapping in the distance. It sounded almost like a knock at the door? Looking back at the group before her no one else seemed to have noticed it...

Oh no, I'm going to have to talk.

She gulped at the thought.

"Um.." she raised her hand to grab someone's attention. However as her hand lifted into the air it struck a nearby pot that had been sitting on a side cabinet. Before she could react it crashed with a loud shatter causing her to flinch and suddenly freeze her eyes quickly looking towards the floor.

Oh god are they looking at me? she wondered not daring to look up her hand still in the air afraid to move it back.

With another gulp she pulled her arm down and spoke "I - I think there's someone at the door." She said quietly tugging at the sleeves of her jumper embarrassed by her own clumsiness. A small shard had cut her hand as she pulled her jumper over it. She didn't want any more attention. It didn't hurt very much, not compared to... she pushed her memories away not wanting to remember.

Cecil, contrary to the notion the other members expected of him (that is, to throw Willow off of his arm), makes no movement to do so. He smirks slightly, but other than that, there's not much of an indication of a reaction. In truth, he does like Willow a great deal. For one thing, she acts so childish that she reminds him of a child, and he certainly has a sweet spot for those. For another, she turns into a cat, and he absolutely loves those.

Lucy, on the other hand, had ditched Cecil's side at the moment in search of someone better to spend her time with. She comes across Rhys, who she had noticed had almost started crying, and she ducks down slightly to be in his line of sight as he's looking down for his game. "Hey, what's wrong? You look really sad! What's wrong, what's wrong?"

When Sapphire steps over to the two of them, Cecil smiles, uttering some things along the lines of 'that's a good boy!' and 'you'll do just fine' before opening his mouth again to ask again if any others were willing to join him. It's then that Faye makes the comment about someone being there, and he looks toward her. The pot that crashes doesn't faze him in the slightest—rather, as soon as she opened her mouth, he expected something like this to happen. He looks down at the shattered pot briefly before his green-eyed gaze rests back on Faye, as some of the other residents were also doing.

"Someone? At the door? You think it could be a witch?" He shakes his head. "No. Unless a witch were pretending to be a wayward child—which I doubt they'd try to do in the first place—they would've tried to break in through the windows. That one'd be the easiest one to break through." He points towards the kitchen, and since that one seems to be the biggest, he'd be correct. He lowers his arm a bit to set Willow on her feet and he carefully untangles her arms from his. After about a half a minute of looking at the door, he says:

"Must be a wayward kid. And I don't think you talking was just a coincidence, either." The brunet casts a sideways glance at Faye, giving her a smile. "While your voice is lovely, you don't do that much, do you? Talk, I mean." His babbling probably doesn't make much sense, but he's using his ability. Assessing the situation. He tilts his head at the door. "Whimsical, maybe?"

---

After listening to Cecil talk about going out to investigate the woods, Lisi began to get excited. She was watched as people volunteered to go, and unconsciously began to bounce with the new found energy that had surged into the room. Even though Lisi didn't have an ability, she was sure that she could be of at least some use out in the forest. Her hand was halfway up in the air, about to volunteer to go with the group, when a crash rang throughout the room.

Slightly startled, Lisi whirled around to see Faye looking sheepishly at the ground. However, it's what the girl said that surprised Lisi the most. Someone was at the door? It had to be a new child! Her assumptions were only further backed up by Cecil's musings. She was suddenly filled with confidence that it was not a witch at the door, but definitely a child. Throwing caution out the window, Lisi ran towards the door with a cry of, "I'll get it!".

Unlocking the main door, Lisi wasted no time in pulling it open to reveal a kid with short brown hair who was slightly taller than herself. A bright smile adorned Lisi's face as she threw her arms to the side in a grand fashion and practically squealed out, "Hello there! Welcome to the Residence for Wayward Children!" Noticing that the child was backed up a bit far from the front door, Lisi rushed over and took hold of their hands, gently pulling them towards the interior of the house. "Don't be nervous! Come inside! It's really cold out here, were you standing there long?"

Suddenly realizing that she hadn't introduced herself yet, Lisi once again smiled brightly at the person and exclaimed, "By the way, my name is Lisi! What's yours?"

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Aya watched as the boy leaned back and crossed his legs in the chair, narrowing her eyes a bit at the slightly pompous jester. She couldn't help but scoff at the boy's reply. Who did he think he was? ...Actually, now that she thought about it, that is probably the exact same thing she would have said if she was in his position.

Her last realization ticking her off a bit, Aya narrowed her eyes further before finally making eye contact with the ravenette. "Really? Using my own question against me? What, couldn't think of anything better?" She replied a bit sarcastically before crossing her arms at looking down at the book that had landed by her feet. "If you must know, I was... reading." She said a bit hesitantly, her statement only slightly a lie. Aya refused to admit to this stranger that she had come in here to get away from all the other people.

She could hear a slight commotion happening in the other room, but shrugged it off, figuring that the others were just getting rowdy. Picking the book up off the floor, she began to put it back in it's spot on the shelf. "Anyways, my name's Aya. How 'bout you?" She mumbled as she finally managed to put the book safely away.

Suddenly realizing what she had said, she quickly spun around to face him and practically shouted, "N-not that I care! It's just... if we're going to be staying in the same place... we should..." Her voice slowly trailed off as she felt her blush creeping up her neck once again. Curses.

"Where is it... Wheeeere is it?" Rhys just started moving the things on the room to find his precious pocket videogame. He started to cry. "Unless stolen, it should be somewhere, shouldn't it?".
Suddenly, it appears right on his front.

Must be someone praying a prank on him. The rage started to grow on his mind, but he just took it quietly and put the PSP on his right pocket of the jacket. "I'll just go to my bed now and... Wait, why people are going to the door?" He thought, loudly, again. Deciding to see what was so special with the door, he just got among the small group.

In the door, there was a short, brown-haired guy.
"W-w-w-"
He just failed at trying to ask what was going on.

Ash's eyes widened, and took a step back, but found their hands clasped in hers. They dug their heels into the floor to no avail, they had been caught very off guard. And ended yp stumbling a little.They stared at this Lisi girl. Her hair. Was pink. Then again, looking up and around, others also had rather...interesting hair colors.

They decided to prompt the question. Unless they were caught off guard, they were pretty good at making it seem like the person was talking to themselves.

Sure, they could introduce themselves, but that could wait. She was asking a lot of questions anyway. "Do you want to know if my hair color is natural?"

Faye Chalmers

As Cecil responded Faye lifted her head up from staring at the floor. She had been taught by the maids in her parents Manor that it was always polite to look at the people that conversed with you. She didn't want to be rude.

Lucy had wondered to see what Rhys had been upset about.

As Cecil spoke in regards to the possible guest at the door being a witch Faye pulled a face finding the concept still a little unnerving. She believed in many possibilities in this world and considering that she was a whimsical child it wouldn't surprise her if there were witches.

"Must be a wayward kid. And I don't think you talking was just a coincidence, either." Cecil cast a sideways glance at Faye, giving her a smile.

Faye slid back into her chair a bit caught of guard as he did.

"While your voice is lovely, you don't do that much, do you? Talk, I mean." He babbled before tilting his head at the door. "Whimsical, maybe?"

As he mentioned her not talking very much Faye felt her eyes widen and her cheeks redden further.

Oh great, so people have noticed me, noticed I'm quiet. I've been here for a few months now I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe they think I'm weird? Wait... did he say me talking wasn't a coincidence? A new Whimsical Kid?

"I'll get it!" Lisi's energetic voice scattered throughout the room as she hurried to the door. Faye envied her confidence.

Faye began to twirl a strand of hair around her finger as she tried to stay confident. "I talk... sometimes" she mumbled back to Cecil. "Just when I want to" she said getting up from her chair.

"I just don't want too often" she spoke trying to make conversation. It was strange, she wasn't used to people. what she said was a lie, it's not that she didn't want too, she did, she just didn't know what to say most of the time or have the confidence too. What if she said something rude without knowing?

"I-" She paused "I like my books" she mumbled again bending down to the floor.

She began to pick up the broken shards of the pot she had smashed "Sorry, about the pot, I'll fix it" she looked towards Cosmo guilt in her voice as she lifted up the hand she had cut. It wasn't too large of a cut, it would heal she deducted pulling the grey jumper she wore over her hands to protect them from the sharp edges of the broken pot.

Maybe I could superglue it back together? Oh but what if I break it again...

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Faye. You know my ability's Ultra-Deduction, right? Anything you'll try to tell me right now, I probably already know." Cecil waves his hand a bit dismissively at her, his gaze resting on the door again. "... Well, looks like Lisi's got a handle on that situation." He looks towards Saphire and Willow, who he pats on the head. "We should get going into the forest if we're gonna scope out the situation. We'll be back shortly, since it shouldn't take too long with my skills." He adjusts the strap on his shoulder and starts towards the door, ducking his head slightly to the kid in the doorway. "Pardon me."

Lucy, who had been blatantly ignoring Cecil, claps her hands together upon seeing that Rhys had found what he was looking for. "Oh, I'm glad you found it! Y'know, Cecil coulda helped you with that really quick... but I'm mad at him." She pouts, then holds out her hand. "I'm Lucy! I don't know your name, but I wanna know it! You look young, like me!" In truth, it isn't all that bizarre that some children don't yet know each other by name. The house is large—the size of a university, possibly larger—on the inside (though not by outward appearance), and the amount of children that live there grows by the minute, it seems.

As Cosmo floats over to the newcomer, he tells Faye not to worry about the pot she broke, that he could just fix it with magic. Tilting his head slightly, he addresses Ash. "You look cold! Like Lisi said, I hope you weren't standing out there too long! I'll make you some tea! And while I do that, I'll have Lisi explain the happenings and inner workings of this estate!" He splays out his fingers, and from his fingertips, the sound of a party horn, and little bits of confetti spring forth. "The boy who just shoved past you is Cecil Rothgar. He is very rough around the edges sometimes, but he has a good heart! The two who are following him are Sapphire Wynters and Willow! The girl speaking to you is Lisi Wales, and she is very happy!" He claps his hands together, looking pleased. From in between the messy bangs that fall in the warlock's face, Ash should be able to see light pink eyes that resemble a cat's. "Lisi, please explain everything! I am leaving it to you, my dear!"

And in a moment, he disappears into thin air. He would reappear in the kitchen, and so begins the making of Ash's tea. The children would hear singing coming from the kitchen.

{ ooc: no worries! :') }

Upon reaching Cecil and Willow, Sapphire caught the brunette's comments on how he was a good boy and how he'd do fine. The blue-haired teen rolled his eyes in response before muttering under his breath, "I'm not a dog..." Despite this, he still smiled softly at Cecil.

Just a minute later, Willow found herself dislodged from Cecil's arm. With her feet now back on the floor, she pouted a little before waving to Faye as the other teen started talking to her.

"We should get going into the forest if we're gonna scope out the situation. We'll be back shortly, since it shouldn't take too long with my skills." This was directed at Sapphire and Willow and while the blue-haired teen nodded calmly in agreement, the cat-girl started jumping around excitedly, bouncing after Cecil as he headed to the door.

Sapphire followed slightly behind them, having checked his reflection to make sure there was no red left. Thankfully there wasn't and with a quiet sigh of relief he followed them over to the door. As he passed them, the blue-haired teen ruffled Lisi's hair and nodded politely in greeting to the new kid. Or he thought it was a new kid since he hadn't seen them around before. He heard Cosmo talking to them as he left.

Shortly after getting outside, Willow shrugged Sapphire's jacket from her shoulders and grinned mischievously before throwing the blue garment at Cecil. She quickly undone the buttons on Cecil's vest and threw that at Sapphire before sticking her tongue out at the pair and quickly turning into her cat form and running ahead of the pair, chasing snowflakes.

Upon catching the vest that most definitely wasn't his, Sapphire sighed a little. "Willow..." Sapphire held out Cecil's vest to the other teen, smiling a little. "Here, I think this is yours. So, where do we look first?"

---

Lisi tilted her head a bit curiously as she stood holding the new child's hands. They had yet to answer any of her questions, and she had started to wonder if they could talk at all. Lisi knew for a fact that when she came to the Residence years ago she had definitely been at least a little more excited than this.

It was at this time when Cecil decided to continue on into the woods in order to investigate. Lisi couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she couldn't go with him, but her excitement over the new resident outweighed it enough for her to stay. As Sapphire and Willow passed by the two, she felt the older boy's hand gently ruffle her hair. This caused the girl to squeeze her eyes shut as she clutched her head, followed by an excessive amount of giggling.

Once the two had passed, Lisi peeked one eye open to look at the child standing in front of her. She couldn't help but notice that their line of sight was set on her own cotton candy colored hair that she was now trying to smooth down. A sudden thought entered her head. "Ohh~? Are you wondering about my hair? You wanna know if it's all natural, right?" Lisi bobbed her head up and down in understanding before continuing. "Well, I can assure you that my hair is 100% natural! It's never seen a box of hair dye in it's life!" Crossing her arms, Lisi finished her statement with a proud smile upon her face. She wasn't really sure what she was proud about, but it felt like the right thing to do at the time.

Lisi's proud moment disappeared however when Cosmo floated over and told the new child that she would explain how everything worked around here. She couldn't help it when her eyes grew to the size of saucers. She had to explain everything? Wasn't that his job? Lisi didn't even know what room the child was supposed to be in. Plus, Lisi had lived her for four years already and still managed to get lost at times. Slightly overwhelmed, Lisi turned to look at the younger child with a slightly flustered face. "T-that's right! I'll be explaining everything! 'Cause I'm really good at that stuff!"

Swaying slightly from side to side, Lisi worriedly rung her hands in front of her as she began. "The man with the wings that you just saw is Cosmo. He runs this place and takes care of all of us! He's super nice, I'm sure that you'll get along just fine!" Lisi smiled brightly as she said that, now deciding to move on to slightly sadder topic. "This place is a home for children with no where else to go. It houses kids of all ages up to eighteen. You don't have to tell us why or how you got here, but just know that we're all in the same position as you. So if you ever need to talk to somebody, feel free!" Attempting to end that speech on a lighthearted note, Lisi once again gripped one of the stranger's hands.

"Oh! I almost forgot! As you'll soon find out, most of the kids here also contain special abilities. It's ok if you don't have one though, I don't after all!" Lisi said while gesturing to herself. She suddenly became curious, and looking up at the child she asked, "Do you have an ability? Also, if you don't mind, could you give me your name? It'll make it easier to talk to you!" She exclaimed happily as she looked expectantly at the thus far nameless child.

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"Caleb, hm?" Aya mumbled as she nodded appreciatively at the black haired boy. She slowly got lost in her own web of thoughts after this statement. Was this conversation actually going well? She couldn't be sure, but the fact that the boy hadn't left yet must've been a good sign. ...Right?

Aya was snapped out of her thoughts as Caleb began to talk again. Looking up, she was slightly startled to see a slight blush on his cheeks. A quick flash of relief hit her that she wasn't the only one who got embarrassed over stuff like this. She watched with thinly veiled fascination as mist gathered around the boy, leaving a tiger cub in it's wake. She had to admit, it was pretty cool that he could summon any animal he wanted, but she couldn't tell him that!

"Ha! You call that impressive? Watch this!" Aya taunted as she pulled two card out of her pocket, causing two foxes to appear out of the flashing of a white light. She had summoned the fox spirits before, but it had always been a bit difficult, taking quite a bit of concentration. But when Aya had arrived at the Residence a couple days ago, Cosmo had given her the two cards she was currently using. They made it a lot easier to summon the spirits without putting much strain on Aya.

For the first time in a while, Aya smiled. Though, it was more a victorious smile than a friendly one. Carefully putting the two cards away, the foxes quietly disappeared. Flopping down onto the ground in front of Caleb's chair, Aya folded her feet underneath her and slowly looked around the room. "You know... I've actually been trying to think of names to given them." Looking down at her hands, Aya began to play with her fingers. "You like to read, yeah? I'm sure you've read a lot of stories with cool names in them... Think you could maybe help me out?" She wasn't really sure what she was doing, but she didn't want to go outside and face all of those people yet. So, Aya decided that she might as well initiate more conversation between herself and the boy.

Ash tried to keep up with what happened around them. Suddenly they were welcomed by a guy who almost acted in a comical , fictitious manner, culminating in the guy disappearing into thin air , not before claiming the guy that just left was quite friendly, as well as dropping many names that they would forget simply because who on earth can remember a sudden onslaught of names...the people here were not normal, hair color being an obvious tip off, and not normal happenings being...normal. "People...kids here... they really have special abilities? The kinds that cause people to hate them? "

They continued to avoid answering the question of their name. However, they had accidentally placed their question in question form. Their curiosity caused them to slip up slightly, and they hoped this Lisi girl didn't catch on. People usually got very angry once they realized someone was using them as a puppet, forgetting to arrange questions as a statement usually being the tipper. That and speaking in first person from their point of view, making it seem like the person was snapping at themselves and not directly at Ash.

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Lisi was surprised to only be hit with more silence as the new child continued to avoid her questions. She was reminded of one of her earlier thoughts. Looking the child up and down quizzically, she began to wonder if they actually couldn't talk. Would it be rude to ask? Well, rude or not, there was only one way that she would be able to know for sure.

Lisi began to open her mouth in order to ask the child if they could indeed speak or not, when different words suddenly began spilling out of her mouth. "Do the kids here really have abilities? The kind that makes people hate them?"

Lisi stood there stunned for a couple of seconds. Why had she said that? That hadn't been anything like what she wanted to say! Shaking her head, Lisi slowly looked up at the still nameless child. Maybe it was her subconscious telling her that the child wouldn't believe that easily that most of the kids here had powers. But why would she have added that last question? Why would anybody ever hate someone just because they had powers? Well, whatever! Shaking it off, Lisi decided that there was no use dwelling on it any longer.

"Well, anyways! I guess that you might need some proof that the people here have abilities, huh?" Nodding, Lisi looked around for somebody who could give an presentation of their ability. Spotting Devon and Gabriel playing poker in the living room, she linked arms with the child and rushed over to the twins.

Smiling brightly as they arrived next to them, Lisi gestured happily between the three people standing around her. "Dev! Gab! This is... uh, well, they're a new resident here! And this is Devon and Gabriel! They're basically the doctors around here." Turning to each person in turn, Lisi then turned her attention to the two boys sitting at the table. "Do you guys think that you could show the new kid an example of your abilities? You could go ahead and use them on me if you need to!" She said before eagerly holding out her arm. She knew that Gabriel had the ability to cause injuries, but as long as Devon could heal her, it wouldn't be too bad. Plus, she trusted the two.

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Aya deadpanned a bit when the cub that Caleb had summoned not to long ago jumped off of his lap and walked over to hers. She couldn't help but stiffen a bit as it snuggled against her, her cheeks beginning to show a slight red tint. Aya had always had a soft spot for cats, and tigers are felines.

Cautiously reaching one of her hands out, Aya gently set her hand on the cub's head, giving it a small pat. She was slightly surprised by the fact that the tiger was real. While her foxes could interact with others, nobody could touch them. Whenever she had tried to pet them, her hand had always just gone through them. Suddenly gaining a bit of enthusiasm, Aya began to gently caress every inch of the cub that she could. Enjoying the feeling of it's soft, silky fur.

Caleb's statement about the cub liking Aya not only brought her out of her trance, but also caused a slightly deeper shade of red to cover her cheeks. She shrugged at the boy's comment about not being very good with names, continuing to play with Nkoe's paw as she did. "It's ok. I'm not very good at a lot of things. And for what it matters, I like the name Nkoe." She gave a slightly awkward smile along with the compliment. She wasn't very good at this whole compliment thing, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

Aya was slightly sad to see the cub disappear, but she tried to hold any signs of it back. Turning her attention back to the boy sitting in front of her, she gave him a small, thankful smile for offering his help. She then leaned back and looked at the ceiling in thought. Caleb's statement about naming his cub in a different language sparked an idea. "We could just name them Ichi and Ni. It means one and two in Japanese. Or... is that dumb?"

Scratching her head, Aya looked down at the ground. "Plus, which one would be Ichi and which would be Ni...?" Sighing a bit, she looked up at Caleb and asked, "What do you think?".

Ash let out a silent sigh of air they hadn't realized had gotten trapped in their throat. She hadn't noticed, thank goodness. Or well, she did, but brushed it off. Despite it costing them their family, their happiness, pretty much anything, they still used this stupid ability. Force of habit, perhaps.

They were caught off guard by Lisi dragging them off to a set of people who hadn't been there earlier. They almost fell, stumbling to keep up. It had been awhile since they had been jerked around in such a manner.

The pair seemed...kinda young to be doctors. Then again, so did their mother, and she technically wasn't a doctor, either...

Lisi suddenly held out her arm. What kind of ability did they have? We're they healers? How would that work? She didn't seem ill at all- far too bouncy and bubbly. They decided to wait and see before prompting anything else.

Elise listened intently at Cosmo's story, and smiled when Cecil was mentioned. But, when witches came up, she began to feel uncomfortable. She was happy that Willow, Cecil, and Sapphire decided to investigate the area. It made her feel safer. Then, when everyone gathered to see the person at the door, she simply stayed seated in her chair. She didn't want to see this person, nor did she care. She actually was still getting used to having some of the newer children around, much less a new one.

While all of this continued to happen, Elise pondered on if she should talk to the newer children more. She knew for a fact that she was slightly scared. She began to think they would say she's crazy for her telekenetic abilities. Even so, she knew better than that. She set the thoughts aside.

Suddenly, she saw Dev and Gab walk into the room and sit at a table with a deck of cards. She watched them curiously as they began to play with them. After awhile, Lisi suddenly burst into the room with someone else beside her. Surely, Elise was startled by the noise Lisi suddenly made, but she recovered quickly. As Lisi explained what Dev and Gab's powers were in a very subtle way, Elise listened closely with interest. She loved using her powers, and she also wanted to demonstrate for the new kid, even if she wouldn't interact much with them after. She walked over to them and smiled, "May I demonstrate as well, Lisi? I'd love the new kid to see a variety of things that we can do." Elise silently waited for an answer.

(OOC: So I'm guessing the living room is the same as the main room? If not, just act as if she moved into the living room to get more comfortable or something.)

"Hah, royal flush! I win!" Devon placed his cards down with a grin as Gabriel groaned and slumped his head against the table. "Another round?"

"Sure, sure, just give me a second to shuffle," Gabriel said, gathering the cards together into a pile. He perked back up as he began to shuffle the cards, hands moving with finesse and expertise like a casino dealer, or more accurately a conman from the streets. "I'll win next time, just you wait!" He declared cheerily, ignoring Devon rolling his eyes with a fond smile. Before they could spread the cards, though, Lisi called out to them.

"Dev! Gab! This is... uh, well, they're a new resident here! And this is Devon and Gabriel! They're basically the doctors around here."

New resident! Devon and Gabriel turned their heads in unison. They saw Lisi dragging a kid who looked around fourteen with brown hair, who seemed a bit weirded out. Devon readjusted his spectacles and shot a welcoming smile at the boy - girl - person, while Gabriel placed the pack of cards down with a cheery smile that looked identical to his brother's, reaching up to tip his hat in greeting.

"Hi!" They said together.

"Do you guys think that you could show the new kid an example of your abilities? You could go ahead and use them on me if you need to!"

The twins exchanged a couple of looks. Even if it was only a couple of seconds, it seemed as if a whole conversation had passed in between them.

Dev raised an eyebrow. It'll hurt Lisi.

Gab raised an eyebrow back, shrugging. She volunteered, and I think it'll help out her pal there! Show them their not all alone and stuff. Why not?

Devon's eyes narrowed apprehensively, then sighed. Well... alright, fine. Just... nothing too much, ok?[/color] A light smirk touched his lips. Let's put on a show.

Gabriel grinned. Knew I could count on you bro. Would I ever make it boring?

Internal conversation done, they turned to face Lisi and the new resident with identical large grins, who was now joined by Elise. [color=darkgreen]"We'll do it Lisi, just take a couple of steps forward. New kid, stay where you are." Gabriel instructed, gently guiding her forwards to the desired spot. Devon, meanwhile, took a step forwards towards Newkid, holding up the pack of cards in his hand like a microphone.

If they were going to do this, they were going to do this with style.

"Lady or Gentleman, girls and boy and hermaphrodite genderqueer kid, people of all ages!" Devon grinned welcomingly at Newkid and Elise, holding the pack of cards in his hand up to his mouth like a microphone. "Welcome to the Whimsical Residence for Wayward Children, where children of all ages gather! I, Devon Zarzuela, am your announcer for tonight! We here at the WRWC are proud to present our opening act - the amazing Zarzuelas! He stepped to the side as hewaved his hands jazz-style at Gab and Lisi, grinning. Gabriel grinned and bowed as if he was performing a show as Devon added Sponsored by Mr Cosmo, owner of the WRWC!"

"Thank you Devon, I'll take over from here! Gabriel Zarzuela speaking, the show is about to begin! As you can see, we have a girl from the audience to help with the act." Gabriel spread his arms out in a wide gesture, showcasing Lisi. He gently took hold of her wrist and held it up, showing it to Newkid and Elise with a flourish. "As you can see, her skin is smooth and unmarked, totally unblemished and unharmed! But wait!" Gabriel gasped theatrically, pointing to Lisi's arm. "Something's appearing!"

As he spoke, a small cut was appearing rapidly on the middle of Lisi's forearm, growing until it was a large but shallow vertical wound that spanned from wrist to the middle of her forearm as if an invisible knife had just sliced her skin open. It would be obvious to the spectators that there was no way that it had been created by any physical object. It wasn't lifethreatening, but it still looked pretty nasty. As they looked, blood began trickling thinly out of it, flowing down her arm.

"And now I pass the next part of the act to Devon," Gabriel said hurriedly, holding the arm still. Devon was already standing next to Lisi, ready to heal the wound.

"Don't worry, Lisi, it won't scar. Now watch as I make it go away! Y uno y dos y..." Devon pressed a hand reassuringly against Lisi's arm away from the wound, presenting it firmly to the audience so that they could see what happened next. It was almost as if time had sped up - the wound stopped bleeding, clotted and began to close up into a rapidly disappearing scar. Within seconds, there was nothing but smooth skin where the wound had been. "...tres." Devon finished, grinning at the Elise and Newkid. "As you can see, the wound has disappeared! Thanks for helping out as a demo, Lisi."

Gabriel tipped his hat off to her as Devon bowed like a waiter, and they both turned to the audience. "And that concludes our show! Thank you, thank you!" They bowed to imaginary applause as one; Gabriel bringing his hat in front of him, then they looked up with identical mischievous grins.

"So what do you think, Newkid?" Gabriel asked Newkid cheerily. At the same time, Devon turned to Elise with an equally cheery grin, asking "Want to be our closing act, Elise?"
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Dennis blinked when Cecil allowed him to join, then nodded quickly, pleasure radiating off him like a cat who'd just seen salmon in its bowl. He really liked how pretty the snow was in the dark, especially in the forest...

The pleasure turned into surprise when something warm slammed against his back, arms enveloping him from behind and jostled his cap down over his non-bandaged eye. He radiated startled surprise at Willow and the others as he swallowed down sudden panic at not being able to see and blinked in the sudden darkness, trying to get an arm free from Willow's tight hold to get his hat out of his face. Dennis was so focused on wriggling an arm free that he didn't hear anything.

After some squirming, he freed an arm and pushed his hat back up firmly on his head. The white flakes blended into the white of Dennis's hat as they fell down onto the people outside, although it showed up well enough against his navy coat. He craned his neck around to look at her, confusion evident on both his face and the aura that generally surrounded him like an invisible transparent cloak. Teach you what? was the general thing she would feel from him.

Dennis wasn't quite sure what Willow was talking about. All he did was ask Cecil if he could join the late-night winter walk out, and Cecil agreed. He tilted his head quizzically at her, but then Cecil said something about finding somebody and Dennis turned back to face Cecil, curios as to what was going on.

Dennis tilted his head questioningly as Willow asked if something had happened, radiating confusion so palpable that one could see figurative question marks flying around his head. It was obvious that he hadn't heard anyone, but...

Dennis wriggled out of Willow's hug and walked over to Sapphire, standing next to him. Looking at Cecil and Willow, Dennis pointed at Sapphire and nodded emphatically, radiating an air of agreement. I didn't hear anything, but I agree with Sapphire. Then his aura turned questioning, and the words were clear on Dennis's face. I'll help you look if you want?