---

---

---

"Maybe we should, actually." Leah leaned an arm against the railing and fidgeted with the ends of her hair, staring at her phone in her other hand. "I just texted Andy about it, but I dunno if she'll actually answer me. If there really was a fight going on over there, I'm willing to bet someone got their ass kicked and is hurt pretty bad." Or maybe someone stopped it. Honestly, she could never tell which would be more likely here. For all she knew, one of the teachers would've just decided to let them sort it out. That Chase guy seemed like bad news, going by the way Percy was so spooked to be around him. It wouldn't surprise her if he started it.

Then again, it would be equally unsurprising if Maeve Whitehall was secretly a terrorist, or if Nemo was still alive, or if Scarlet Witch was secretly here to exploit her position as the school's only qualified instructor of wizardry to nefarious ends...

Perhaps Leah wasn't the best judge for that kind of thing.

"If they're still acting foolish when we get over there, I'll put somebody in a box, maybe. Let me get these skates off and we'll go back. If you want, anyway. Or we can do something else and let them be mature about it," Leah suggested, being a bit sassy. She was doing that a lot lately. "Up to you."

---

---

The snow, the sky, the air, everything blurred past Marlena as she brought her limbs inwards to go faster down the slop. She loved speeding down streets, ramps and anything else she could skate down. This felt exhilarating, it scratched that itch she had to move, get out and do something. For a brief moment, the feelings of dread bubbling up into her chest were gone once again, as they'd disappeared a few times already, just to come back. She would've loved to use her powers to zoom downwards just a bit faster, but... It was crowded, and she didn't want to land on someone else.

She leaned back, legs tucked together and arms behind her head, enjoying the moment as if she weren't currently careening down a two hundred foot tall hill at the speed of mach fuck. She looked over at another lane, saw April and Danni, and just smiled at them lazily. With no thoughts of where she was going to actually land or come to a stop, this felt like a lazily boat ride down a canal in Venice to her. The tube started to tilt and spin, slowly twisting her in a circle as she descended.

I think I'll like it here after all.

---

---

---

Sabine wanted nothing more than to turn her brain off for the rest of the day and enjoy the winter activities lined up with her girlfriend. To forget the world for the briefest of moments so she could snuggle into Leah's arms, sipping hot chocolate that isn't used to make an ice fort, and pretend she was normal.

But she knew she couldn't.

"No, we'd better get over there. Hopefully it's been resolved, and I don't need to do damage control, but just in case I do I would rather see and get all sides of the story so I know how to handle it." If Andy was involved, then perhaps it was one of the new people who got into the fight. Chase maybe? At first, he seemed like bad news, but Sabine knew better than most not to judge someone immediately. There was the delicate balance of being friends with Percy as well as being understanding to a new person who did harm in the past and is trying to make amends.

Sabine waited for Leah to get her skates off before she reached her hand out and held on as they began walking towards the others. "At least we can enjoy this moment."

---

---

---

As Millicent waited for a response, she noticed the fissures grow in light, and the girl she saw through the ice manifested herself out of it. She was as alive and real as Millie was, but that didn't mean much. She was locked in some ice, which meant she could be dangerous. Or she was a prisoner.

This was out of Millicent's depth.

The girl looked out of it, and Millie locked eyes with her. The girl reached for something, a weapon perhaps? Millicent held her arm out. "Whoa, chica, hold off on that. You're at a school filled with a bunch of people with superpowers. The majority of them are hormonal teenagers, so cool it for a second. Who are you and why were you trapped in that ice fort?"

The girl started to move, but seemed shaken and dizzy. Millie fought off the urge to help (consent was important), so she stayed in place. "I'm Millicent. Are you feeling okay? I could see about finding a nurse or someone. They have to have medics on standby here. She waited for the girl's response to being offered aid. Hopefully, it didn't escalate further than that.

---

---

---

---

“Two cups of tea, coming right up. Do you have a cup too?” He asked. The pot was full of water and starting to warm up. He watched his phone as Danni and April took off on their inner tube.

He winced. Before they fell, he could take a guess at how much they were going to get hurt. They’d probably be calling up... which one was it of their dads? Pops. They’d probably be calling up Pops for a healing. Ben wasn’t sure what the school had in the way of a nurse or doctor. It seemed like the type of school that should have a powerful healer on-site, so maybe they wouldn’t have to.

Ben snuggled up against Chase. “I don’t know about speed records, but they might get one for air time.”

---

---

---

---

Andy’s phone chirped, and she looked at the message. It took her a moment to understand, but she was getting more used to Leah’s texting. She typed back her response, plopping on her bed while Gideon got her things.



“Leah has healing runes now if you want to see if she’ll heal your eyes.” Andy wondered if it would help with the light sensitivity issue, too, but she doubted it. “Hmm, I don’t think you’ll need it, but can’t hurt to have it.” She gave a slight shrug. She believed in being ready for a fight.

Danni's confusion was left behind at the top of the ramp as they went flying, cackling wildly as he kept up the flames to push them forward. He should have flown over the carnival years ago - it was such a pretty sight and the weightlessness of letting them move freely without anything pushing them up left butterflies in his stomach. It was like that amazing moment before the drop on a rollercoaster when you hit the pinnacle and everything else, everyone else, all the problems of the world just fell away before you went hurling into the ground.

Danni blinked.

The fire flickered out.

He glanced at the chat.

Oh no.

“OMG RILLIE, WHAT ARE WE GUNNA DOOOOO!” Danni screamed as they fell away from the crest of their flight, the concrete of the school ground rushing up to meet them. Danni flailed as the butterflies poured out as screams and he wrapped himself around Rillie. He tried, he tried so hard, but he couldn't muster the flames to stop them. He did, however, manage to get a single jet of flame to pop out long enough to send them into a spiral. “OMG SAUNA BOI TURN OFF T'E STREAM, TURN OF T'E STREAM!!!!” Danni screamed as they plummeted to a stoney death.

---

Victoria watched with morbid fascination as the tube with two thirds of one kingston-gray generation launched towards their doom. It lookedlike gravity and Danni were not able to push the tube beyond its breaking point, a small wonder in on itself.

Nice observation, however, ramp.

It wouldn't have taken superhuman hearing to overhear Danni's panicked shrieking. What worried Vicky a little was the focus of his worries though. She would have expected him to urgently request April to summon a pool of water in their landing zone or some other means of surviving the impact that was coming, rather than worrying about their demise being available on slow motion instant replay.

"Fah! When I said I wanted to protect this class from further harm, I didn't account for protecting them from themselves!" the android grumbled under yer breath.

She focused every sensor she had on the falling tube and two gools with a deathwish.

Account for shifts in center of mass, check.

Factor in wind speed, check.

Consider the remaining distance to the ground and initial velocity, check.

Adjust for air resistance, done.

Optimize acceleration field shape with consideration for human body ergonomics and comfort? Why of course!

Tori reached out with a hand. Her generators lit up...

... And a precise repulsor field pushed and prodded just right to direct and slow down the siblings' fall, bringing them down in an orderly manner and in maximum comfort, touching down still on the tube like a leaf kissing the surface of a pond. Danni might be familiar with the feeling from their improptu shopping trip before the christmas break.

Despite expecting having to do this, Victoria did breathe a sigh of relief as she cut power tothe generators. She had half a mind to approach tle panding site and yell at the siblings. She didn't even want to think about what Dorian would do if these two managed to kill themselves.

But there was also the possibility of the stream still being on, and given that already plenty of drama happened at this festival, Victoria abstained. She could always chew them out later in private.

Instead, she grabbed a tube herself and started making her way up the slope, intending to make use of April's ramp.

---

---

Dorian felt his phone buzz as five new notifications started popping up. The first was Danni’s stream notification, he swiped that one away as he wanted to stay a while with Percy and within the moment. The second was from his cousin. He hadn’t expected that one, then again it was her first day here so she may very well have a lot of questions about how this all worked and if they could hang or something along those lines. He opened up the chat and saw the string of messages. Dorian laughed a little to himself as he typed away a reply. ”One sec Perce, my cousin is textin’ me about some ‘weird’ stuff t’ey stumbled across. But it very well just may be somet’in’ mundane. T’ey aren’t used to t’is sort of life.” He tried to use his powers to put his skates on while he texted her back, but without looking at what he was doing, he kept missing his foot with the skates opening and gave up on the endeavor all together.



Dorian looked back up from his phone, frowning at Percy for what he’d just registered he had said. ”Perce you’re not broken, you’re just growin’ up. Rillie is goin’ through some stuff too, it ‘appens, there’s not’in to be sorry for and it isn’t fair to you to t’ink you aren’t allowed to ‘ave space for all t’ese emotions. So, lets focus on t’e skatin’ not on t’e negative t’oughts’ goin’ t’rough your ‘ead. So, ‘ave you ever skated before like on rollerskates? It’s basically just like rollerbladin’ but with ice. Super simple.”

---

---

”Ah shit. Yeah, it’s in my backpack. Still got the camper mug from out little trip during break.” Chase stood up, bringing his phone alongside him as he made his way over to his bag and opened it up with one hand. Tugging on the zipper until it finally gave way as he shoved his hand inside the opening and rummaged around blindly until he felt the cold press of metal against his skin. He hooked his finger into the collapsable handle and pulled it out of the bag, absentmindedly walking it over towards Ben as he placed it next to him and gave him a kiss on his cheek before going to sit back down for the stream. He wasn’t exactly sure what all had been happening as he was walking around, something about Rillie having wanted some chick but not wanted the chick or something. It seemed this stream would be airing out a bit of laundry instead of tubing at break neck speed, as Rillie had decided to voice to the entire chat about their mania and fears of being seen as crazy. Too late. Though Chase couldn’t exactly sympathize with the idea of offing oneself, he always had something to live for. Percival, a future, the look on his captures’ face as he tortured his daughter the way he tortured him, and now Ben. Danni’s cackles soon took over the stream as the look of glee was plastered across the screen while they rocketed down the tubing slide. This school was absolutely insane.

The screams of delight quickly devolved to ones of fear, the view behind Danni spiralling out of control as Chase realized that they were plummeting without a plan or safety net. How very Danni. ”Shit, Babe, Danni’s careening down! Maybe I can help if I can just pop ove–” Danni had asked Chase to cut the feed. How? He couldn’t see the phone, he was just holding it. Then again, this was Danni they were talking about, the very essence of Gwainn showing in these moments. Chase sighed as he made the shadowy hand cover the camera so the video was black but sound could still filter through from the mic and speakers. He didn’t hear a splat, nor any sound of broken bones or injury. Chase removed the hand from the camera, turning it this way and that to see what exactly had happened, but all he saw was the pair of them on the ground, safe and sound, with no one around to thank for it. He quickly typed into the chat. ”What just happened!? I was about to be on my way to help when suddenly…youre ok?”

---

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---

@Kirah: Gideon slid her knuckle blades onto her off hand, grimacing slightly as Andy suggested having Leah to look at her eye. She hadn’t had a medical exam since… well, since the disastrous one at the contest, and she had hated every second of it. It’d been almost a relief when it had been cut short, as they realized she somehow had managed to fail English - again. “Nah, I’m good. If I go blind, I go blind,” she offered with a shrug. But with her knuckle blades on one hand and her rapier secured - and a quick check to make sure her hair looked decent in the mirror - she was ready to go back to the carnival. “Let’s go beat up some other losers, yeah?” she grinned.

@KazAlkemi@PatientBean: No one else had stumbled across the tent to disturb them, leaving Luna and Millie to become acquainted with one another in peace. Of course, Millie’s phone buzzed with a helpful(?) reply from Dorian - and not a single one from Danni. She would likely see a notification though that Danni was livestreaming at the moment, although if she clicked on it, all she would see was a black screen and the muffled sound of adolescent screaming.

As for Luna, she would feel a sudden weight appear in her pant’s pocket - an object about the size of a phone, yet flexible and light… and eerily familiar…

@Blizz: At the base of the hill, students were giggling and talking with one another, using the straps on their tubes to drag them back over to the lift so they could have another go. Some were gawking at the ramp that had suddenly appeared, their faces wide with curiosity and horror as they saw yet another student about to embark on that challenge. Enough of them had seen Danni’s stream and heard the screams, with the feed going black, to have assumed that he had died. It wouldn’t be the first time a student died at AA.

However, she would overhear a group of three - an incredibly tall girl with ice blue skin dressed as if a Hot Topic exploded on her, a shorter boy with glasses that almost had a mirror finish to them, hiding his eyes, and… what seemed to be a sentient, glowing green cube, the whole chicken it had consumed earlier completely visible from its semi-transparent nature.

“There’s no way you wouldn’t have seen it!” the icy giant hissed. “I specifically asked you to look for what would happen, Carlos!”

The shorter boy winced, but clearly was on the giant’s side. “You’re a precog, it doesn’t look good… Why didn’t you see that Shadowlight would turn Carlie down?”

Carlos, the sentient cube, spun in a circle, as if throwing his hands up in protest. He had no clearly defined mouth, and produced no audible speech, but somehow his meaning became known to the others, even to Marlena. My visions have been fucked up today. All I keep seeing are blonde girls with swords!

“Fucking breeders…” Carlie scoffed. “Fine. But I’m still mad at you. And I’m telling Mom.”

---

---

Almost immediately, Percy’s thoughts tried to drag him back down into that dark place, attacking on two fronts this time. The first was Dorian’s assertion that he was just growing up - he knew he was a child, he wasn’t going to argue that, but… there were moments where the three (now two) year age gap between them felt massive, like a gaping chasm waiting to swallow him up. The second count, of course, was that he did know how to roller skate. He’d never been incredibly interested in it, but his best friend had been - and his mother, Dominika, had been more than thrilled to encourage more physical activities for him to indulge in. He remembered how it felt to hold Chase’s hand as he skated, terrified that he would fall and injure himself, but feeling so paradoxically safe and secure at the same time, knowing Chase would never let that happen…

He took a breath, before getting down onto his knees and guiding Dorian’s foot into the hole of his skate, helping him to put it on. “Yes, I’ve skated before. I, er… My parents used to take me and my friend to the rink not too far from our house, my mame would read and grade papers, while my mother defended her high scores in the arcade. It’s been a while, so I might be rusty… Will you hold my hand?” He was a little concerned that Dorian might try to keep texting his cousins as they skated, given how much trouble he was having just putting his skates on. He unlaced the other one and waited for a moment, so that way he could help his boyfriend put that one on, too.

---

---

April was very responsive to the feelings of others. So much so that when one person was feeling happy, they felt happier - when someone was sad, they found themself down in the dumps. It was a vicious feedback loop that Danni and April often fell into, the two of them just cycling the energy back and forth. So when Danni was screaming in fear and terror… April was screaming before they even knew what was happening, an earsplitting screech that would have aced any audition for a slasher fic, landing them the role of final girl.

They held onto Danni as tightly as they could, Amelie squished in the middle between the two of them. Through the screams, their reactions and instincts and all of that failed them, as their only thought was panic - some of the snow falling tried to latch onto them, to create a cushion, but they were too scattered and disorganized. They didn’t even offer a coherent action item, the only thing they were able to say - “AHHHH!!!!!!!!”

They shut their eyes tight, making brief peace with the idea that they were about to die - at least they’d die with Danni. Maybe they could be summoned by Papa at the same time, be besties and siblings in Ghost Hawaii and visit Dorian on the weekends. Maybe -

“...Why aren’t we dead?” April croaked out, feeling themselves come to a slow, gradual, and safe stop. They opened their eyes slowly. “Did your not-boyf save us?”

---

---

---

As they left the ice rink, Leah lifted her sword up and rested it on her shoulder, taking Sabine's hand. She looked up into the distance and noted, very astutely, that nothing appeared to be on fire. There weren't any meteors falling from the sky, or any interplanar creatures from Turbo Hell descending from a portal to subject Earth to annihilation. So whatever was going on, it was probably manageable.

"They're probably fine. But we'll-" Beep. Her phone got another message, so she quickly let go of Sabine's hand and pulled her phone back out. That was pretty fast, actually. Another good sign things were alright.

"Andy punched that Chase guy and got in trouble for it... Gideon's sword got taken from her. They're gonna be in detention, hope that was worth it. Apparently that's all." There weren't many people that could stand to fight Andy, even Leah didn't have a very good record for the occasional scrap they had. The first time, she got knocked out in one go. "Must be pretty petty, whatever was going on. Probably hurt feelings, not much else. They-"

Then there was screaming. Leah recognized those voices, the voices of the most hyperactive motherfuckers she'd ever met, one of which she had messy feelings for. How could she ever forget that high pitched squeal that threw all pretense of composure to the wind? And that other sound... The sound of someone screaming in French. Leah saw, high above the ground, that a rubber donut was flying through the air. And on it sat Danni and April like they were on a damn roller coaster. Leah's jaw opened up in disbelief. What in the fuck were they doing?!

Then they were gone, flying off into distance and away from a two hundred foot tall hill of snow. They seemed to be flying forward more than falling, which was weird.

Leah's head craned around slowly, and she just stared at Sabine for a moment.

"...Okay, fucking- First stop, that fucking thing. C'mon."

Then she started walking faster, past all the commotion and other students, arriving with Sabine at the huge tubing area. Vicky seemed to be taking part in that, and Leah assumed she did some of her repulsion fuckery to make those two land safe. Okay, good, if Vicky was there, Leah felt way better about the whole thing. And it seemed April had built a ramp, because of course they did.

"Are they out of their damn minds? Where were they gonna land if..."

Leah saw someone at the base of the hill. Noticeably taller than her, skin blue like ice. She looked familiar, but not because they'd met. Leah recognized her because she was from the same planet, Jotunheim. That girl, talking to a floating cube and some short guy, was from her home.

"I- Woah." Leah blinked. "Huh... That girl's a Giant. Like me. That's new." She wasn't expecting to meet someone from her Sort-of-technically-home.

Shit. Should I talk to them?

---

---

When the tube slowed and slid towards flat ground, Marlena tilted her head to the side to keep April and their brother in view. The way the tube started spinning made it hard to see, but they were flying up into the air. Marlena couldn't help but cackle at the sight, wondering how the hell they were gonna land. But then again, couldn't Danni fly? She saw him doing that during the Contest, maybe they'd latch onto him and he'd fly down safely? Marlena wasn't thinking too hard about it, though. There were people gathering around the ramp, and she could hear shouting.

An incredibly tall woman with icy skin, a shorter guy, and a cube? They were talking about something, and Marlena wasn't that sure of what anyone was on about, except for the cube who she just somehow knew was talking about blonde women and swords. Odd, that.

Marlena's tube skidded to a convenient position, rotating around and stopping to let her face the tall woman and her ominous cube. She came to a resting position splayed out on it, resting her head on one hand like she was at a beach. She looked pretty hot, for someone who looked pretty cold. Very mall goth, it reminded her of Luna Minor a little.

"This place sure does have a lot of tall women," She commented, sliding right into that conversation. "And blondes with swords... Hi, I'm Marlena, nice fit you got. How's the weather all the way up there?"

---

---

---

Luna frowned at the girl talking to her. A school? Superpowers? Was she on Earth? At one of those mutant schools? Luna remembered her time in schools like those. But why would she be dumped here?

”Ice fort? What the hell are you talking about?” Luna turned to see the crystalline structure that the girl must have been talking about. ”What school is this? Where. Am. I?” Luna asked more forcefully. She was properly freaking out now.

Did her Lady throw her out? Why would she do that? A sudden presence brushed against Luna’s leg and remained there. She looked down to see an object sticking out of her pants that hadn’t been there before. Slowly, she pulled out the box of Tarot cards. Luna’s hand started to shake.

Saturnyne never let these out of her sight. Why did Luna have them? She opened the box and pulled the first card. Temperance. Except it was reversed, which didn’t bode well. Luna felt her mouth dry as she stared at the card, trying to recall its meaning, but her mind was blank. The only thing she could piece together was that the artwork was all wrong. The girl was too modern with her sun-kissed skin, cropped red hair, and sunglasses. She didn’t fit the usual imagery.

With shaking hands, Luna put the card and deck back into her pocket before she stood. ”I don’t belong here. I need to get back,” Luna said and made a beeline for the exit.

Danni’s eyes were screwed shut as they both screamed, praying that the family wasn’t watching the stream; otherwise, if they survived this, they were so so so grounded. He wasn’t ready to die, he wanted to do so many things: he wanted to win next year’s Contest, he wanted to go to the Valley of the Moon, he wanted to have a croissant, he wanted to play with Amelie, he wanted to take a nap in his bed, he wanted to-

The screaming didn’t stop as they touched down safely, Danni needing a little time to register they were safe and alive. He cracked open one eye as his screaming dwindled and took his face out of Rillie’s back. He patted the ground a few times to make sure it was real and then hopped to his feet laughing. Danni dragged Rillie to their feet and yanked them around in a twirling dance. “We’re alive, we’re alive, WE’RE ALIVE!” Danni laughed like a madman, repeating it over and over hysterically. “T’at was so scary! I t’ought we were goners for sure! I just ‘ope t’e fam wasn’t watchin’- OMG T’E STREAM!” Danni dove for the phone, snatching it up as he read through the chat.

“Sorry ‘bout t’at everyone! Def a little touch or go right t’ere for a sec, but we’re all safe and sound!” Danni pondered over April’s question. It definitely wasn’t Percy; that’s the only not Boyf he could think of considering how much the internet insisted that GreekFire was a thing. “No, Spicy’s port doesn’t feel like t’at, ya know? Its more like POP ya know? Like, everything is just in t’ere all at once kinda deal. T’is was like, super gentle comin’ down. Like, so gentle I didn’t even notice it at first. Kinda reminded me of Vicky when she flew me around so maybe it was ‘er? I’ll ‘ave ta ask! And t’en t’ank ‘er wit’ 100 hugs ‘cause like, def our ‘ero!.” Danni nodded decisively and then explained to the chat.

“Vicky ‘as t’ese fancy t’in’s t’at like, make ya float so I t’ink it was ‘er! We’re all gucci, Sauna Boi. Not a single ‘air ‘urt on my perfect ‘ead, see?” Danni made sure Chase could see him from all angles and then peered at a new chat notification from him texts,clicking on it and screaming, yanking Rillie over. “NO faaaaaaair! Milli-illi-illipede gets ta meet Luna Snow?! I want ta meet ‘er too! OMG, we could get t’em ta take photos toget’er and get t’eir autographs! We gotta- I gotta- Okay bye chat, love you, have fun, don’t do t’is at ‘ome unless ya ‘ave really great friends!” Danni ended the stream and fired back a text to Dorian and Millie before he grabbed April’s hand and booked it for the fortune teller’s tent, snow tube forgotten.

---

---

---

Sabine wasn't thrilled to hear that Chase was in another altercation, this time with actual, physical violence involved. Though she knew Chase was not the enemy he was painted out to be, she sort of hoped that there would be a break in between chaos. "I don't think any of them can get their way out of a paper bag at this point without intervention. Seriously, Dr. Whitehall is gonna have a field day."

They were interrupted by the sounds of screams and Sabine did a quick scope of the scene, because for all she knew, they were being attacked by some supervillain because when wasn't this school in some sort of jeopardy? As she looked up with Leah to connect the screams with faces she saw Danni and April flying through the sky on a tube. Sabine watched it soar. Were they having fun?

Leah didn't need much convincing as she grabbed Sabine and pulled her to the tubing station. Sabine was unsure she wanted to face potential injury and/or death at this juncture, but perhaps it would be a welcome distraction to scream her head off rather than worry about everyone else. Sabine went to tell Leah such and she noticed Leah staring at someone. Leah confirmed her thought that the girl was a Giant also. Sabine didn't recognize her. Sabine also knew Leah didn't have a whole lot when it came to connections to her home.

"You should go talk to her." There was an implied choice of if Leah wanted Sabine to come or not. Sabine knew that someimes you needed to have something that was just your own.

---

---

---

Well the girl was talking and not threatening her or indicating violence, so this was a win in Millicent's book. "I mean, I don't know, you were in some ice container with shining cracks all throughout. It's how I found you. I figured you would know since normally people aren't put in ice forts without their consent, I assume. Although I guess bad people would do that, but surely you would know or remember, right? Anyway, umm this is a school for superpowered teens. The Margaret Carter Institute. And you are....on Earth? In America? Not sure how far you want me to pull back from that."

She felt her phone buzz and read the text from Dorian and Danni. Did Dorian assume she didn't know who Luna Snow was? The two of them had met once before, briefly, but it was still fun and of course she went to her concerts and listened to her songs. She shot off a response.



Millicent followed, but not too closely as to not overwhelm the girl. "Hey wait! Look, if you're confused or lost it might be best to stick around and try to figure out what happened. I have some friends coming over, maybe we can figure it out together. Also, are you hurt at all? I can't imagine being frozen like that was good for you health-wise."

---

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Ben watched the screen in abject horror. Suddenly, very glad he wasn’t outside watching this in real life. “GO!” he shouted. But Chase didn’t have time to go. He did at least cover the camera, so when Danni and April crashed to the ground, it wouldn’t be spread all over the internet. Somehow, though, they came out of it all right. Ben’s heart was racing.

“Next time, just tell me you’re going. You do not need to wait for me to give you permission to go save our friends.” The water beeped. Ben stood up and started the ritual of making tea. He set up his new bug-themed cup and Chase’s mug. Poured the water and added the bags of Earl Grey tea. Ben only really liked two teas - Earl Grey and English breakfast. His hands did shake a bit. Today was too much. But at least he could hear Danni talking. They were alive.

---

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---

---

“As long as we don’t get into another detention. Want to go ice skating? You get to strap blades to your feet.” She held up her skates to show them off. Andy was a little worried that Gideon was that chill about going blind. Maybe she’d have to look into what caused light sensitivity. She mentally added it to the list of things about Gideon that she was worried about.

Andy led the way back out of the dorm building; she used the elevator. Back outside, she took a look around, assessing what might have happened during the time she had been distracted. It at least wasn’t as bad as that scene from Community that became a meme forever ago. There was some chaos. She could hear Danni yelling, but she wasn’t sure where he was or what he was even saying. She sighed. Apparently, she had missed something again. Andy was sorely tempted to just go to the ice rink still and ignore whatever other nonsense was brewing.

---

Why was she doing this? It was just demonstrated to be a boneheaded idea. Even if she was more durable, was this going to compare to the stuff she did recently? No, she's likely won't even get a buzz. Was she trying to show off? Nah, she'd rather noone was around. It's training! Vicky determined as she setthe tube on the starting line and settled upon it.

Reviewing her sensor data from the sibs' attempt, she adjusted her propulsion bursts for the difference in passenger mass and nudged herself down the slope, an experiment already in mind.

She copied the trajectory perfectly and the ramp launched her in the same direction. The moment it did, she cut the poer off - she would need the entire generator set if she was to pull this off.

Looking in Stark Hall's direction, she tried to create a repulsor field that would fly her armor to her. Tried being the key word. Be it unexpected gusts of wind or whatever the reason, the task was a bit too complex to easily pull off while yeeting herself through the air.

And with the only system that could fight gravity preoccupied, she followed the siblings' trajectory a little too well. "Gravity, thou art a heartless bitch." she complained to noone in particular as she was forced to admit she bit off more than she could chew - At this time! - and had to concern herself with landing.

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Dorian took Percy's hand into his, smiling as he did so and ushering them both onto the ice rink. His foot gently kicking them off and going as a slow and easy pace while Percy attempted to allow his body to recall the steps needed for ice skating. He'd tried not to say anything, not to be that kind of boyfriend, but he couldn't help it. ”I assume t'is ‘friend’ in question was t'at dark eyed jerk?” He kept his eyes forward, watching for any other skaters they may bump into, but glancing at his side towards Percy every once in a while as he awaited a response.

His phone buzzed again, then again, and again, as the messages piled in and made it easier to miss the fact that not once but twice now people had been flung over via the ice slides. He sighed, pulling his phone out with his free hand to check and see what the fuss was about. He looked at Percy, a little defeated. ”My cousin needs me. Apparently some girl broke out of an ice prison and is confused, violent, and soon to be roamin around. Mon dieu what I'd give for a Festival t'is year t'at didn't ‘ave any drama. I swear they were not like t'is in previous years.” Dorian typed out a quick response back “On my Way.”

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It was a breath of relief as Chase heard Denni's screams of victory over death. The video now showing them safely deposited on the ground as Danni began to explain the difference in feelings of teleportations or maneuverability that he has experienced within the group. He hadn't met Vicky yet, not that he could recall anyways, as his mind tried it's best to piece the information together in the event an unseen attack had happened and he was forcefully – he stopped, realizing what he was doing. Analyzing the group again out of fear that they would all turn on him. Fear he'd be captured again and sent back to the labs to finish whatever sick experiments they wished to do upon him. He froze, staring at the screen a while after it'd already gone black. The words Ben had spoken finally sinking into his thick head before he turned to look at the kettle that had finished boiling.

”Sorry…I just – I didn't want to leave you, especially not when you're feeling this shaken up, but then Danni and the Ice Prince, and I just…Sorry.” Chase made his way over towards Ben, wrapping his arms around him from behind as he kissed the top of his head before resting his chin on it. ”They are our friends…right? I mean, kind of feels like at most their your friends and im the unwanted accessory you happen to bring around. Not saying you don't want me, just that they don't, I mean I think Danni does? But – nevermind, it's stu– it's not worth worrying over right now.” Chase new better by now than to call his thoughts or feelings stupid around Ben. Otherwise he'd be chastised again and given the same speech he always gave when it was brought up. He could call himself stupid plenty at night however.

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@Kirah: “Can I strap blades to my hands, too?” Gideon asked immediately, before laughing. She practically already did with her knuckle blades. Still, ice skating sounded fun. She’d never done it before, but she never found physical activities to be super challenging, so she wasn’t worried about whether or not she’d be able to pick it up. “You ever watch the Olympics? Some of the competitors are hot as shit. Especially the ones competing with rifles - girls actually dominate in the sport, our build is a little better for stability for hitting your shots. And don’t even get me started on how sexy the skaters are - fucking love watching. We should watch together this time, they’re coming up soon.”

The shouts didn’t phase her, either - they were par for the course at the Margaret Carter Institute.

@Blizz@PatientBean:

The three siblings all fell silent for a moment, as Marlena intruded in on their conversation. Eventually, though, the ice giantess scowled down at her. She’d evidently heard jokes poked at her height one too many times. “You’re not my type,” she dismissed, before gesturing at the boy with the glasses, “you can try Carl, though. He likes the smell of desperation in the morning.”

Carlos, the sentient cube, leaned back, yikes reverberating through everyone’s minds.

Carl, the seemingly normal albeit short boy, pushed his glasses up. “That may be true, but I am not interested in girls… Alas, my love is destined to be unrequited. He’s an ass but I know he would love to please me, if he was not in the arms of another, my sweet Novikoff.”

I’d be interested, Carlos chimed in. But in being your friend.

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Ice skating was decidedly not one of Percy’s strengths. Despite Dorian’s claim that roller skating would translate, the moment his feet were on the ice, it was like he had never even walked before with all of the stability and grace of a newborn pup. He almost immediately slipped and fell, grabbing onto his boyfriend’s arm for dear life, every muscle in his body tensed and locked. His heart was pounding furiously, as much as he gritted his teeth and tried to force himself to calm, to relax. He knew that any injuries he obtained here could be healed in a second by Dorian’s father, but it would still be embarassing to smash his face into the ice in front of his partner. He wanted so desperately in that moment to be the cool Russian stereotype, to know how to skate on ice better than he knew how to walk on land - to be able to impress his boyfriend, even wrestle a bear barechested and walk away with a laugh, and completely dominate at every winter activity. He hadn’t even been able to handle baby Yetis.

“Yes,” Percy bit his lip, looking at his skates - which only served to make his balance worse. “He… Chase was the only friend I’ve ever had before coming here. He essentially lived at my house. His home life was… poor, to put it mildly, so my mothers ensured he had food, clothing, school supplies - all of it. I spent every birthday, every holiday, every day off from school with him.”

His face fell, though, as Dorian pulled out his phone and explained that his cousin needed him, that there was some sort of an emergency. He’d heard recently that sometimes, people would pretend there was a crisis in order to leave a situation they didn’t like - to leave a person they didn’t like. Was he…?

“Of course. Your cousin needs you. I understand,” he said softly. “Do you need help?”

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April pulled out their phone, their eyes wide as Danni mentioned he hoped the family hadn’t been watching the stream. The rules placed on them were stricter than the ones on Dorian and Danni at the moment - if Danni were grounded from this stunt, April would be… April didn’t know a word to describe the punishments Pops and Appa would rain down upon them - Pa would probably side with them, too, and Papa was useless when it came to standing up against Pops when he was really angry. They let out a sigh of relief seeing that there weren’t any messages from the dads, only to see… a text from Andy. Phew. They weren’t ready for a hey, you up? text from Marlena just yet.

“Wait, wait, wait, Luna Snow?” April almost dropped their phone, accidentally hitting send on a message back to Andy halfway through, reading simply -



“That’s so unfair!!! I wanna meet Luna Snow!!! I wanna ask her if the rumors about her and White Fox are true, I need the yuri to be real Danni, I need the yuri to be real!!!” April screeched, running just as fast as Danni as their brother dragged them along, whether or not they’d managed to break a record or drawn the Eye of Pops completely forgotten. They were too jittery with excitement and nerves to create an ice slide, instead just a few sad puddles of water appearing around them as they sprinted, making a beeline for the fortune teller’s tent, not looking at all where they were going, completely unaware of their surroundings, of the other students milling about the carnival, of the freaked out looking blonde girl standing in the middle of the thoroughway until…

CRASH

The three of them collided - Danni, April, and a stranger who was decidedly not Luna Snow.

“Shit, shit, shit!!! Are you okay??? Do we need a medic??? Danni are you okay??? Amelie???? Amelieeeee????? Wait, omg, Millie, you're here!! Luna Snow has healing powers, ask her to come out here stat, okay?? Shit did we break her nose?? Please please please don't have a broken nose, Danni can't get blood on his outfit! And this is Dorian's so he will KILL me if I get blood on the clothes I stole or well borrowed fuck!!!”

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Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuuuuuck.

What was she supposed to say? Oh, hi, I'm Leah. We're both Giants, let's hang out. No. Wow! I'm not the only Giant here anymore! The thought of walking up to a stranger just to talk about that felt nerve-wracking. It felt preferable to fight her dad in his lab while he had his stupid bird suit on, did she really care that much about identity all of a sudden? Around half a year ago, this was the last thing that would've been on Leah's mind, why would that Leah give a flying fuck? She didn't care about mutant solidarity, back when she thought she was a mutant. She never got the point of it. But now Leah was six feet tall and had rocks for skin (kind of), and she had never even met another Giant, despite being born on a planet covered in them.

Leah stared at the ground. What if that girl was a bitch? What if there was actually space racism between different Giants?

Sabine was right, though. She should. Thinking about it, Leah drummed her fingers over the hilt of her sword. She was a superhero with galaxy-wide fame, she could handle a damn talk with a stranger.

"Cógeme... Preocuparse por nada. Yeah. I'm going. I'll be back." She sucked it up and walked over. The list of things Leah was good at outside of fighting was short, but looking like she wasn't a nervous wreck was up there. She did her best to avoid looking like she was about to turn and scram the second the other Giant had enough of her.

"Hey. Didn't know there would be other Giants in town," Leah greeted her. Fuck, she was tall. Was that how tall Leah would've been if she hadn't been experimented on? "You new here? If you are... Welcome to Earth. They call me Leah here."

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Marlena cracked up. The tall lady was some bark, and she thought that was fun. The comeback made her laugh, she wasn't even mad. That wasn't the first time she'd been bumped off, or even the first time she'd been bumped off without even intending to make a pass at somebody. And in Marlena's experience, both of those situations called for taking the out that was given. So she tilted her head up on the tube she was splayed across and put her hands up in surrender.

"My bad." She wasn't about to tell the girl she was misreading Marlena's intentions. Yes, she just happened to come to a dead stop where they were, but they were also in front of the tubing area, where people slid down. They were gonna hear conversations if they passed by. But, hey, that was life.

But she did internally grimace a little when the short guy, Carl, mentioned having a thing for Poltergeist's man. Yeah, that earned a second, less telepathically communicated yikes from her.

And then... Leah showed up with her girlfriend. Marlena took that opportunity to fade into the background a little. She sat up on her tube, skidding it a little on the snowy ground. Then she planted one foot down, swung the other over her knee, and pulled her phone out. It was getting a bit later in the day, but there was still plenty of time to do stuff. Cool, great. She took a moment to text April, to see if they were even alive still.



"So..." Marlena leaned over a little and kept her voice down, so as to not interrupt whatever the two giants were getting up to while she socialized with the ominous floating cube. "Carlos, was it? Is it rude if I ask what you are?

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Ben leaned into Chase’s embrace. He loved how it felt. It was comforting, and now that the tea was ready, he could already feel his nerves calming down. He sipped. It was too hot, but the heat of it helped as it slipped through him. He sighed, muscles releasing some of the tension he had been carrying since running into Danni and everything that had happened after that.

It was also relieving that whatever had happened to Danni and April, they were both okay. Danni chatted and ended the stream abruptly, screaming about Luna Snow. Ben didn’t really listen to that type of music, but she was impossible not to know.

“I don’t know about everyone else, but Danni wants to be your friend. I certainly won’t say the others are my friends. I don’t know anyone here yet, other than Danni. None of the other friendships matter to me. I only care if you’re my friend, and if Danni is my friend.”

Ben did catch that Chase corrected himself. He smiled and kissed his cheek. “Here have your tea.” He handed over his mug.

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“Uh, I don’t think you should strap knives to your hands. But maybe sometime we can go to an empty ice rink and do a sword fight on the ice.” Andy was already getting used to being unreasonably durable. She hadn’t fully tested how durable she was.

Andy thought about Gideon’s second question. She remembered vague things about the Olympics when she was little. She scrunched up her nose. “I remember, I think 2016, Michael Phelps. Swimming. He might have done diving too. But he definitely did swim. There are two, right? Winter and Summer. The 2016 was a summer olympics. I don’t remember watching any winter ones. Those are the ones with ice skating. I don’t remember any shooting ones. We should have a watch party.”

The text back from April was quick but weird. Broke what? She sighed. God, she hated texting. It did not get across anything. Were they hurt? Did James need to be called? She texted back.

---

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Luna made her escape through the tent flap into blinding sunshine. She stumbled forward, trying to get her bearings when she was met with something solid, followed by cursing and a string of sentences that were growing hysterical with each pass.

Luna groaned and rubbed her head. ”Oh my god, stop talking! Nothing's broken.” Luna opened her eyes now that they were better adjusted to see two more teenagers in front of her. She hated school. Where were all the teachers or someone who made sense?

Luna turned her head to look back at the first girl she had spoken to. ”You said America? Where in America exactly?” Luna never thought she would be back in America. She had thought about it. Several times in fact, especially after getting married and having her girls. She thought James would have been happy for her, and Luna always wanted to know how James was doing. But that was a different time. And she was pretty much forbidden to be along the eastern seaboard.

Luna rubbed her achy forehead again when she heard screams and peals of laughter. She turned her head back, trying to take in the sight around her. Was she…was she at a carnival? What the hell was going on?

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Sabine took a step back, figuratively, and allowed Leah to connect with the giant. She pulled out her phone to check messages, immediately assuming the team had gotten into more trouble, when she saw messages from Andy and April. Danni and her...broke? The fuck did that mean?

[hider=@Excelsior Group Chat][/color=A2797E]"Yeah, agree with Andy. Going to need more information on that."[/color][/hider]

She sighed inwardly and her attention fell on Marlena, who was speaking to two of the others. One was a gelatinous cube that was communicating telepathically with everyone. With nothing else to do, she walked over to them. She heard the tail-end of some of the conversation. "Normally, not something you ask others," But she had to admit she was curious too. "But we meet many different people here. More than likely, different people from different worlds. So, everyone cool?" She was treading the line in case Carlos got incredibly offended or Marlena stuck another foot in her mouth.

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Millicent continued to follow the girl, partly to ensure she didn't freak out any more than she was and inevitably do so on some poor, unsuspecting victim, but also to make sure she was safe when she saw some figures approach. Before she could relay the message of an incoming attack, there was a collision as all parties fell to the floor.

Millicent noted that April and Danni were part of the tangled mess. April was excited, at least. "Heeey April, umm so take a breath maybe? Luna Snow is not here, as I have explained already. This is..." Millicent blanked. She never got the girl's name. "I never got her name, but she was in the fortune teller's tent in some ice fortress and she broke out and is now...here."

Was that a sufficient explanation? Sure. It had to be.

The girl had looked at her with questions, so perhaps this was a good thing? A step in the right direction to get her situated and helped. "Yep, good ol' United States. Umm, we are at the Margaret Carter Institute in California. Specifically, Los Angeles. It's also 2039, which I feel is necessary information to point out to you. There doesn't seem to be blood. I think we're good, but maybe we can all go somewhere...not so out in the open and talk? Get your bearings, and we can figure out what happened."

Look at her stepping up and helping!

WHAM!!!!
Danni let out an ungodly shriek as pain radiated through him and he hit the ground, rolling back and forth as he sobbed. “OMG OMG I'M BLEEDIN’ I'M BLEEDIN’! RILLIE, CALL POPS, CALL PAPA, CALL SOMEONE! I CAN'T ‘AVE A SCAR! I CAN'T PULL OFF T'E RUGGED LOOK! I'D LOOK LIKE A MONSTER! I-” Danni laid out like a starfish, heaving pathetic little whimpers until the pain quickly faded away and he pressed against the tender spots, patting himself down after.“Wait, wait, ‘old on. False alarm. No blood, no breaks, no ruined clot’es! No need for t'e fam!”

Danni popped back up, a little fire to get him going, and shook himself to get the bits of debris off him from the ground. Somehow, his hair was perfectly tousled from the fall. He looked around and frowned. “But Millie! Dee said you were meetin’ Luna Snow. If you weren't meetin’ Luna Snow, who in t'e world is Luna??? Is t'is Luna?” Danni demanded, bouncing around the new girl. “Why are ya so confused? Are ya a timey whimey person? Are ya the person wit’ the lights? What's your beauty routine? Do you want some tips? Oh, do you wanna come ‘an'out wit’ us? Millie's reaaaaal good at sin'in’ so we could ‘it t'e karaoke. Oh! Maybe t'e music will brin’ back your memories, ‘cause like music is ‘ealin’ and all t'at right, Milli-illi-illi-pede? Oh, I'm Danni btw, t'is is t'e siblin’ Rillie, and t'at's t'e cuz Milli-illi-illi-pede. Do you wanna like, get somet'in’ ta eat? T'at can ‘elp too or like some ‘ot chocolate or- Hm, no can't do t'at. We made walls outta t'at.” Danni paused to look at Rillie.

“Could we still drink it? Like, can we water bend it into drink able chocey milk? T'at kinda sound fire rn, no cap.” Danni threw himself at April, clinging to them. “Pls. T'e water bent chocey milk. I need it.”