Participants:
| Scene Title | Not Grounded |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Magnes keeps his promise, but makes sure Hailey learned her lesson. |
| Date | May 15, 2010 |
The Lighthouse: Girl's Dorm
It's around breakfast when Magnes goes up to Hailey's room. She'd have smelled something baking for a while. When he enters, he's wearing a Green Lantern shirt with the symbol in the middle. The torso of the shirt is black, other than the symbol, and the sleeves are green. It flows down a few inches over his blue jeans.
He spots her awake, and sits a wooden tray over her lap, elevated slightly by the short legs. There's a grilled chicken caesar pita wrap, with some lettuce, all chilled so it's more like a wrapped salad. She's also got four warm chocolate chip cookies and a small glass of milk. "Morning, Hailey." he smiles, sitting next to her so he can make sure the tray doesn't get knocked over. "You feeling better? Oh, I think there's something under your tray…" He leans over to try and see, acting surprised. When she reaches under, she'll find the first four issues of the Stephanie Brown Batgirl comics tapped under the tray, in their bordered plastic.
The blankets on Hailey's lower bunk are tucked in close, hiding the makeshift cast that Eileen provided. It's not plaster so much as wrappings, but it does the job well enough, to immobilize her leg. She's not entirely alone, as the house cat sits next to her, pawing against her lap, the orange fur getting into her face. Tears are in her eyes, when she looks over. "No," she responds sadly, reaching up to hug against Chandra, rather than start eating on the food that's been laid in front of her, on the tray. "I should be grounded… Is Gillian going to die like Denisa?"
"No! Gillian's hurt, but she's gonna be alright, I promise." Magnes places a gentle hand on her head, sighing as he pulls one of his socked feet up on the bed, leaving one firmly planted on the floor. His back is resting against the headboard, trying to think of a good way to word things. "I said everyone should try to be a hero, but you always have to think of the consequences, and ask for help. A hero should never be afraid to ask for help, and talk to older people to figure out if what they want to do is alright."
He himself has had to learn that lesson, he's still learning that lesson at times. "Your idea was well-intentioned, but we have to plan these sorts of things. You made a mistake, we all make mistakes, but what's important is that you learn from what you did. What did you learn, Hailey?"
"That I need to ask people for help if I want to be a hero. Doing things on your own will only end up getting people hurt," Hailey says, almost as if she's been thinking about it all night. Alicia was badly hurt. Santa was hurt. She was hurt. Colette was hurt. Gillian was hurt…
"I'm really sorry, Magnes… I didn't want anyone to get hurt…" she starts to cry again, holding the big yellow cat closer. Chandra allows it, with an annoyed flick of his tail, but he most definitely is not purring.
"You just wanted to help, Hailey, I understand. Back when I couldn't use my ability very well, before I knew how to fly and make snow balls, I made a lot of mistakes. You remember a time last year, when television shows got interrupted because of something happening in Japan? That was me, making a really big mistake." Magnes reaches over to hug her and possibly spare the cat, sighing. "I don't know what everyone else is gonna do, but I won't punish you, Hailey, I'm just glad you're alive. I was so worried, I didn't know what would happen to you. Promise me that you won't go off on your own like that again."
"I won't," Hailey says with a sniffle, letting go of the big fluffy cat to rub at her face, finally reaching out to take one of the cookies. Apparently, dessert first. "When it's not this cold, can we go flying sometime? Real flying? And when my leg is better, too." She looks down at the sheets, or more accurately the tray, as Chandra stretches to get out of her grip and wander away, merwing once with a flick of a tail. "I'm glad I'm alive too," she adds. "I like Gertie, but I didn't want to— you know, be her."
"Sure, we can go flying, I promise. Just make sure you get all healed up. I'll fly you to where Elaine, Sable and I live, and we can have a costume party!" Magnes decides, apparently running with the idea, then he nods to the tray. "I still think there's something under that tray, you should check."
Something under the tray… Hailey puts the cookie down and reaches under it to feel around, pulling out the comic books. Four issues of a Batgirl comic— the newest one. "Is she strong and cool?" she has to ask, looking over the art and already beginning to open the ocver of the first one, to look further. "Too bad she doesn't talk to bats. She doesn't talk to bats, right?"
"She doesn't talk to bats." Magnes smiles, shaking his head at her question, but always patient with the children. "Stephanie Brown was the Spoiler, and even Robin once, but now she's Batgirl. She's one of the superheroines that earned her costume, possibly one of the best."
"Maybe one day I can earn one too," Hailey says quietly, before putting it aside and holding her arms out for him, motioning him closer with her fingers so she can hug him around the neck. "Thank you for coming to find me."
Magnes leans down to wrap his arms around her, smiling and patting her back a few times. "Thank you for being alright, Hailey. If you want to talk, or want me to read to you, just yell and I'll come. I'll let you know if I have to go somewhere."
"Will you read to me now, while I eat? Everyone else is downstairs and…" Hailey is all alone. Even Chandra's moving away, padding tiny feet downstairs. They won't let the dogs upstairs to see her, cause they don't understand how to not jump on her, and their weight would injure her leg further. She picks up the comics and holds them out. "You can start with these— or you can tell me about what she did before this!"
"I'll tell you all about Stephanie Brown, then I'll read to you." Magnes pulls his other leg up on the bed, getting comfortable. "So, this all started in Robin's comic, the third Robin, Tim Drake. And there was a girl whose life was going all wrong…" And he'll tell he all sorts of stories, how she became the Spoiler, how Spoiler got accepted by Batman and even became the fourth Robin for a while. Of course he'll leave out that little part about being pregnant in the beginning, but everything else is mostly peachy!