Participants:
| Scene Title | Danger Zone |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kendall is confronted by Valerie and her older sister Kaylee, and finds out he didn't have anything to worry about…. provided he behaved himself. |
| Date | November 19, 2010 |
The castle isn't lonely— not anymore. There's more than enough people living among the walls right now to give it the feel of an actual castle. It's also haunted! But that's only if one counts the girl-like form that ocassaionally appears and disappears, and the other girl like form that can sometimes be seen in mirrors. Who never wanted to transverse a haunted castle?
What works as an infirmary still has more than a few people around, including a blonde teenager whose just gotten the wound in her back looked at, again. With the bandage reapplied, she starts to move into the corridor on the makeshift crutch they've given her to assist in walking. Right now the castle is short a ghost, cause she's busy walking around on crutches. "Thanks for waiting out here," she says softly, smiling at her older sister. They haven't had a lot of time together since the now older sister got back. So much to do. And both of them being injured didn't help.
And, of course, having an illusionist living in the castle has a more or less unending supply of ghosts and ghouls and other things that go bump in the night… well, after he recovered, anyway. It took Kendall a few days for his ability to be usable without causing him splitting migraines, but for the past few it's been fine. He even pretended to be a ninja the other day, and summoned a small monster with one of his ubiquitous Yu-Gi-Oh cards. At this point, however, he's searching for someone a bit more real than that. Well, for the most part. And find her he does, coming around a corner and spotting her. "Hey…." he trails off when he notices who she's with. Uh. Oops.
Pushing away from the wall slowly, Kaylee gives her little sister a gentle smile, "Not a problem at all. What did they say?" Her concern for her sister is genuine, even if things are a bit awkward in ways. Especially since Kaylee has aged by five years since they first met, widening the gap between the two Ray siblings.
Kendall's appearance gets mild reaction from Kaylee, who just arches a brow at the illusionist, possibly sensing the guilt.
Or maybe it's the fact she's a telepath.
"Hello Kendall." Her tone is pleasant however and is slowly followed with a smile. "You've been pretty… scarce." Amusement colors her tone by the end of it. "You'd think I was the Wicked Witch or something, that — or — " She takes a steps closer, leaning towards him looking as if she's trying to see into his soul. " — your trying to hide something."
Eyes narrow, even with that smile on her lips, "Do you have something to hide — Kendall?"
Kendall starts to relax a tiny bit when Kaylee first starts talking to him, and then she starts advancing on him like a tiger advancing on an injured antelope, and he just kinda shrinks back. Oh shit. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't have anything to hide." he stammers. "I mean, uh…" Kendall suddenly has a flashback to Goonies, when the bad guys get Chunk and have him tell them 'everything'.
"They don't have any MRIs or anything, so they can't tell exactly, but… I'm used to this. My nervous system was messed up already, but they think my spine may have been affected," Valerie says,but then lifts up her foot as if to show off wiggling toes— but they're hard to see under the shoes she's wearing. "I can still walk, so it can't be all bad."
The appearance of Kendall brings a dimplied smile to her face, one of excitement and geniune joy, which quickly fades into a blush when her sister teases the young teenager. "I asked him if he wanted to go on a date when we're both able to go back to New York," she admits, perhaps to save him the trouble of spilling all his secrets.
Straightening and bringing her hands up in gesture that asks him to wait, Kaylee chuckles, "Relax Kendall. Relax." Her smile brightening, taking a few years off her face. "You both are seventeen and I am pretty sure not stupid." She glances at them both, seeming to be judging them. "The fact that you both behaved when — " she trails off making a motion of her hand, not wanting to utter I what happened.
"Anyhow, that says a lot," Kaylee says honestly, "Plus… technically, Valerie is an adult according to the courts. While I'll still be keeping on eye on you both, I'm okay…" She gives Valerie a smile and a slight wink, before looking at Kendall again.
"However, you disrespect my little sister or… god forbid… get her knocked up. You and I will have words, since our father isn't around to do so." Which is probably a good thing, though their father would probably already know when that might be happening and be making the moves to change it. Which means there wouldn't be an issue in the first place.
Kendall blinkblinks at Kaylee, then blinkblinks at Valerie. "I don't think she'd let me do either even if I wanted to. Which I don't." well, not unless there's marriage involved. "I don't do that." The only person he disrespects is Melissa, and that's in a teasing manner, not serious.
"Kaylee," Valerie says, turning a few shades of pink once again. But she's lucky that kicking in shins, even playfully, is out of the question. "I promise I won't have any kids til you do." And deaf girls in care don't count, but she doesn't say that. "It's just a date. Movie, dinner, stuff like that. Since we can't play video games for a while." A casualty of the riots.
"Good I'm glad we have an understanding," Kaylee says flatly, before reaching out and resting a hand on Kendall's shoulder. "And seriously, it's okay to relax around me. I'm not going invade your thoughts or something. Your both good kids, but — I do have to be a big sister." An affectionate smile goes to Valerie.
The hand slides away from his shoulder quickly enough, as well as the smile, as Valerie talks. "Well — that will be awhile," Kaylee states blandly, fingers touching the crosses resting there, a remind of the one person not there. "Not the kind of world to bring a kid into anymore, really." she says focusing on that rather then the fact that there isn't anyone to father a kid.
"Anyhow," she flicks it away, tucking hands into pockets to keep from curling fingers around the crucifixes. "I am fine with the date, I approve and… I promise not to insist on a chaperone." Something that comes from being in the past for so long. "I can't speak for Melissa… tho… if I remember her correctly, she could go either way. Unpredictable though."
Kendall sighs and rolls his eyes at the mention of Melissa. "She overreacted when I said I was staying with you and Valerie." well, actually Melissa overreacted to the bit about Kaylee not being there at the time. "She wants to have a 'talk' with Valerie, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a good thing."
"That's silly— where else were you supposed to live?" Valerie says with a shake of her head, not really understanding why someone would have an issue with it, when the way she heard they were letting him stay there as a favor, or something. "It'll be fine," she says, waving a hand at it even as she leans on the crutch with the other arm. What's could anyone possibly do to a girl on a crutch?
Probably a lot.
"I haven't…" she starts, eyes caught on the crucifixes that her sister is fiddling with. "I'm sure he's okay." Though she isn't as sure as she might like to be. It's just something she feels like she needs to say.
Eyes narrow at that information and Kaylee seems to consider that. "Well then…" she starts mildly, a slight edge to her words. "If she wants to have a 'talk' to Valerie — " she looks at Valerie studying her for a moment " — I insist on being there. I won't let her alone with my sister.
"You can tell her as such." Kaylee gives Kendall a reassuring smile.
"She may have gone back to save me, but — I remember little of her and what I do, I think your right. It would be a bad idea." There is a short nod of Kaylee's head, before she drapes an arm lightly around Valerie's shoulder.
Her eyes seem a touch glassy at her sister's words, but she blinks a few times, before saying, "Thanks… and I hope you're right." It wasn't fair to the telepath that she waited all those years only to have him snatched away again. "You're probably right," she adds after another moment.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, the telepath brightens suddenly, brushing back the dark thoughts, "So… I heard they have horses on the island now. Haven't seen those since I went home last." She glances at her sister. "I think we should go check them out at some point."
"Horses, huh? Think they'd let us joust with them?" as if Kendall even knows how to ride a horse, let alone do something as complicated as jousting! "And yeah, I don't think that should happen either. I personally think that Melissa is just bitter because I got a girlfriend before she got a boyfriend." he glances at Valerie, making sure she's not objecting to him referring to her as such.
"Thanks," Valerie says, nodding a little as her sister and possible future date promise to be there when she gets 'the talk.' And— wait. Kendall just called her a girlfriend? That makes her smile a little, so it doesn't look like she's objecting to the title. "Once all three of us can go, we'll have to go see her. I'm sure Kendall misses her, even if she's…" There's a word, but she doesn't know one, cause she's never met her before. Those two can fill in the blanks.
"I've seen the horses— I don't think it'd be safe to ride them, but I wouldn't mind feeding them."
A little bit of Margaret shines through at Kendall's assessment, her words sounding almost haughty, "Yes, well… a little personality adjustment would do wonders for her love life." Her chin lifts slightly, confident in that. "There is a bit of — thorniness there. Men don't like to get pricked all the time."
There is so much more, Kaylee wants to say, but a part of her holds back. So instead she nods at the mention of the horses. "Helping care for them now and then is what I was thinking." The telepath gives her sister a gentle smile. "I also need to find out where the dogs are." There is a frown at that, brows furrowing a little. "Though, I imagine Alica is taking care of Max and Missy.
"However for now, I have bread to check on." A mischievous grin touches her lips as she gives both teens a look. "Besides, I am probably cramping your style," she jokes, poking fun at her new age.
"Overprotective." Kendall finishes, looking disgusted. "I think she's got this idea that I'm 10 or something. I'm not a little kid!" really, he's not. "Well, we'll be allowed off the island soon enough, I'll go see her. I heard she's holding this mourning party thing in a few days, I'll go to that. By the way…. do you have a key to your apartment? I want to go see if my stuff's still there. I hid them all before we left." it's a bit complicated how he did that, but it involved a fake wall.
"Maybe you should ask her to remember what she was doing at seventeen…" Valerie says with a small smile, though then she looks worried at Kendall wanting to go back to the apartment, where they were ambushed. But she doesn't say anything. After all, he has ways to get around people trying to watch the building. "I have a key. I had it when we had to flee the building," she offers, since she knows Kaylee won't. She just got dropped out of the olden days. "And you're not cramping anything, sis! Though while you check on bread, Kendall and I have a castle to explore still." She's explored on her own a little more, just as she's sure he has as well.
"It's probably that very fact that has her freaked," Kaylee points out to Valerie, "Cause I know how I was at that age." It's followed with a grimace, obviously she's none too proud of that.
"I'm not comfortable with you going back there, Kendall," Kaylee says giving the young man a matter of fact look. "We don't know who is watching… however…" The telepath, glances down the hall, seeming to debate what she says next.
"If you get in there, and if you can safely, I need you go into my closet," her eyes drift back to the teenage boy. "Under the floorboards in the closet is — I guess by now — an old metal cigar box." She seems a little sheepish and feeling a little guilty that she might be letting a kid go back into a danger zone. "Please?" she asks, brows tilting upwards a little as she asks that favor.
"Hey, if anyone can get in and out with no one noticing, it's me." Kendall grins reassuringly at the both of them. "After all, who else do you know who can turn invisible? And it's actually better than real invisibility because even if they use a heat scope they won't be able to see me. And there's no cameras either. Besides, I'll wear a real disguise just in case they did bug it. I'll be fine." at Kaylee's request, he nods and salutes at her. "Will do."
"I didn't stash anything, but I didn't have much to begin with," Valerie says, impressed that they all thought to make stashes. Everything she had in the apartment was bought for her after she was supposed to get killed in the explosion in midtown. Or— possibly killed. Who knows how it would have turned out if her sister hadn't plucked her out. She's glad she did, though.
"If you want to help me back to my room, I can get the key," she adds to Kendall, crutching a few steps along the hallway. The room she shares with people, but— still her room in most respects.
"Thank you." Kaylee offers softly to Kendall, before moving to give her sister a half hug. It's something she started as soon as her sister was able to receive them. Trying to make sure Valerie know she cares. "I'll leave you kids to it then."
Stepping back, Kaylee doesn't turn to leave, instead she stands there watching them make their way down the hallway.
"I'll help you there, sure." Kendall replies to Valerie, only now moving close to her since Kaylee seems to be leaving. Aww, was he keeping his distance out of fear of a nutshot from angry older sister? "You can lean on me if you like." he adds. "And no problem." he nods at Kaylee, looking relieved as he helps Valerie.
"I'll take to you later, sis," Valerie says, to assure her sister one simple fact— she'll still be here for a while. Not just because of the gun shot, but because her sister needs the assurances. With her arm now free from the halfhug, she puts it around Kendall, for added support from her crutches. "You better be careful. It seems kidnapping runs in our circle, and we can't go on a date if you're sitting in jail."
That's the only warning she'll give him, as they make their way to her room and the key.
