Ollies and Heelflips

[UPstart]

Carter had woken up a little late that morning, even though it was his first day and he went to sleep pretty early that night. He was tired from the trip and emotionally drained from everything. He had been hungry, especially with all the smells coming from the kitchen earlier, but where there was smells there were people. The last thing he wanted to do was face more people, especially after his humiliating encounters yesterday. He opted to stay in his empty room and making sure that Kevin had left, he ate a couple of his mother's cookies for breakfast. She made the best snickerdoodle cookies, and Carter thought they were as good as anything that they could be cooking downstairs.

After he got dressed and showered, he had sneaked past the others downstairs and went outside with his skateboard under his arm. There were people at every corner it seemed, in the courtyard, at the pool by the basketball courts, and even by the gardens. His only option was the tennis courts, since it was smooth pavement and good for skating. It was also far enough from the other people for Carter not to bother them.

He skated on the smooth pavement, coasting carefully and learning the perimeter of the area. He would jump and ollie off the benches on the side with practiced ease before jumping back down and coasting smoothly down the courts. The best thing about skating for Carter was that he could do it by himself and be just as happy as all those kids that skated in groups.

[Rhetoric]

Liv had practically fled the mansion after she’d changed, unable to take being cooped up for another moment. She thought she’d just wonder the grounds for a bit until it was time to meet Coffee, but Cuil had other, more annoying plans for her. The sparrow, unhappy that she was ignoring him, had swooped down and stolen her earbuds clean out of her ears. Liv had had no choice but to chase the feathery thief across the campus threatening his very existence.

In an attempt to lose Liv, Cuil had flown through the chain-link fence that surrounded the tennis court. He only succeeded in getting the headphones tangled and was pulled up short. Cuil had no choice but abandon his prize near the top of the fence. “You suck,” Liv groaned. She could see her earbuds dangling down from a good ten feet above and she sighed. Where was Ricki when she needed her? “Cuil… seriously, how can such a small bird be so vastly irritating?” she asked crossly.

Cuil dropped down to her shoulder, devastated that he’d tangled the headphones in the fence. My spoils! he griped. They’re stuck!

“Spoils?” Liv muttered, her eyebrow quirking. “Are you under the impression that I’m the conquered party here? Dream on. You’re so beat.” Liv snorted as her attention strayed. She’d only just noticed the solitary figure skateboarding around the tennis court. She forgot about the grieving sparrow and her pilfered headphones and hung on the fence, her fingers laced through the chain links. She recognized the skater as one of the boys she had met yesterday. He’d been with Veronika and Coffee before she’d gone over… C-C-Carter, if she remembered correctly. A small smile played on her lips as she watched him tricking on the board.

“Hey!” Liv waited until he paused so she wouldn’t startle him off the skateboard. “If I come in there will you run away again? I promise I don’t bite.”

[UPstart]

Carter was so startled by the girl coming up to him that he lost he yelped and tripped over his own feet. Just like many times before, his energy disk formed and broke his fall. His face turned beet red, and growing darker by the minute. Stupid, stupid! This is the second time you made yourself look like an idiot in front of her. What do I say now? Oh man she's looking at me I have to say something, anything to not look even dumber. "Uhh," Carter said getting up slowly and trying to regain his composure.

"Uh um no I- um I didn't mean to uh, run away before," he said in a hurried rushed voice, his face growing hot as he remembered what a fool of himself he made yesterday in front of that beautiful red head Veronika and this girl that had such a pretty face. It had been his attempt at being a bit more social and trying to turn a new leaf, but it backfired hard into his face. "Sorry about that," he mumbled quietly looking up at her for a second before quickly looking back at the ground.

She seemed so nice and she was so pretty. Maybe not the way that Veronika was beautiful, but still really pretty and she even seemed nice. After yesterday though he was on his guard, not letting anyone no matter how nice they seemed give them a chance to get at him. "Oh did you wa-want to use the c-ourts? Sorry I didn't think anyone would be u-using them. I'll um move, sorry." Carter looked horrified as he realized that's why she came up to him, it had to be. He should have just skated on the street like he originally thought, but he didn't know if it was allowed. Now he just felt more stupid for not realizing that people would want to use the courts.

[Rhetoric]

"That. Was. Awesome!" Liv grinned as the circle of light caught Carter and put him back on his feet. She wasn’t sure what his power was exactly, but it looked pretty useful. Lord knew how many times she had eaten mat when she was learning her front aerials and having one of those… glowing thingies would have saved her a lot of bruises, mat-burns, and humiliating moments. She hung on the fence and listened to Carter stammer something akin to an unnecessary apology before she waved it away. “Bro, don’t say sorry, I totally snuck up on you.”

Nervous egg, Cuil peeped into Liv's ear. She grinned at the little birdie, agreeing completely. Carter didn’t seem able to look her in the eye, and not in a gross, ‘I need an adult’ sort of way, but in a shy, nervous manner that put Liv in the mind of a skittish horse.

You have to stop comparing people to animals, Liv scolded herself. Before Frost locks your ass up in a padded room.

She shot Carter what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “You don't need to vacate the courts, I was just, well..." Liv pointed up at the earbuds still knotted in the fence and sighed. “I got mugged by a bird. Say hello, Cuil. And be polite for a change. And if you steal anything off him, consider yourself a nugget.” Liv looked pointedly at her feathery friend.

Cuil left her shoulder to perch on the bench that Carter had just ollied off of. He peeped politely and Liv had to hide her smile. “He says ‘sup’,” she laughed and slowly moved to the gate, letting herself in. “So how’d you do that flippy thing with the board? If it were me, I’d have fallen on my face.”

[UPstart]

Oh crap, she's talking to me, she's really talking to me. And she's being nice. Uh oh, what if she's just trying to get me to get my guard down? But... she seems so nice. And she's got a pretty smile and she's being really nice... Man I really hope this isn't a trick... Carter thought and gulped slightly as he forced himself to look right at her. She really did look nice, and it did sort of help him with his wariness and shyness, but only a little. As much as he wanted to run and keep himself from being made a fool of, his mom taught him better than to be so rude to a girl, and she just seemed really nice.

"Uh, I um. Well I just kinda learned how t-to," Carter mumbled, looking down at the floor for a minute and then back up at her. His eyes kept going to the little bird on her shoulder, impressed and intrigued that she was actually talking to it. It actually was kind of funny, since he always thought about talking animals and his whole comic strip was dedicated to the funny little cats talking to each other while they went on adventures with their skateboards and competed against the Park Dogs in skateboard competitions. It was kind of cool that here she was actually talking to animals and understanding them just as he wrote in his comics.

It took him awhile to realize that he was staring, making him blush beat red again in and look down shyly. "Oh um- sorry I didn't mean to st-stare, its just that well um." Carter took a deep breath to try and not look like an idiot from stuttering so much. He didn't want everyone to think he was a total loser, and this girl seemed really nice. "It's um c-cool that you can talk to animals," he mumbled looking up at her shyly, red in the face. His energy disk had disappeared now and he felt a little less secure without it nearby, as he was known to randomly trip when nervous.

[Rhetoric]

“Thanks.” Liv grinned appreciatively. “You wouldn’t believe how many people don’t think so.” She thought back to last night at the docks with the Paragons. Normally she wouldn’t drink that enthusiastically, but the Disney princess jokes had made her a touch cranky. Of course, she’d felt significantly better about the whole thing after she’d thrown up all over Chase while he was carrying her back to the mansion.

That certainly wasn’t very Disney of her.

With one last forlorn look at her headphones dangling overhead, Liv walked over to Carter while Cuil got a free ride on her shoulder. “Your power is cool, too. It must be nice knowing you aren’t going to get hurt while you’re…” she waved her hand at the skateboard, “practicing.”

“I’m Liv, by the way. I know we met yesterday, but introductions sort of got... chaotic.” She tried to hide her amusement as she sat on one of the benches, tucking her knees up under her chin. Chaotic was a bit of an understatement. She'd no sooner introduced herself to Carter before he'd fled the rec room. Liv was already surprised that he hadn't tried it again, although she had a feeling that he was thinking about it.

Liv looked back at the mansion and wondered how much time she had before Coffee came looking for her. She wanted to be loose before she started training, but this anti-social, nervous kid seemed interesting and Liv was never one to disregard her intuition. Another few minutes wouldn’t hurt. “You’re new, too, aren’t you?” she asked, watching him happily from the bench. “Where’re you from?”

[UPstart]

Carter had looked at her for as long as he could before he looked down in embarrassment. She had such a great smile, and a part of him really wanted to believe she was one of the nice people out there. Still, he was on his guard and couldn't help but be suspicious of her intentions. Why was she talking to him of all people? Carter was sure that she could easily talk to some of the cool guys here, and the ones that everyone seemed to want to be friends with, yet she just stopped and talked to him? Something weird had to be going on.

The thoughts sort of melted away though when he mustered up to courage to look back at her face and see her pretty smile. Her smile was different from Veronika's, when Veronika smiled at him he just felt all warm and happy inside, but when Liv smiled at him it was just so honest. So many people smiled so much that it was hard to see the sincerity behind their smile, but hers was just honest and without pretenses. It even made Carter give a shy smile for just a minute.

"Um I uh, um my n-name is Carter," he started in as steady of a voice as he could muster, trying to swallow back the nervous feelings that came from talking to a pretty girl, or any girl in general. "Um I-I, I'm from Delaware. This uh, well w-we call it The Wedge. It's not a very big place," he trailed off quietly. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and looked away from her, looking around the area. "Do you uh, I mean would you um like me t-to get those for y-you?" Carter asked quietly pointing to her headphones. He felt bad her little bird friend took them from her, but he hoped he wouldn't get attacked trying to get them.

[Rhetoric]

“Delaware, huh?” Liv asked, absently stretching out her arms behind her back. Carter seemed to be relaxing. True, a stutter or two snuck into his conversation, but he no longer looked like he was about to stroke out. “My Ma and I go to the big Horse Expo in Harrison every year. Most of our herd’s from PA, but we picked up a good looking gelding down there last year. ” Liv grinned at him as she continued to stretch. “That’s what my family does. Pop is a cop, but the rest of us run a stable in Batsto. Not the most glamorous job ever, but it suits me fine. Horses are easier to get on with than people… and I’m talking too much. Sorry. Sometimes you’ve got to stop me.” Liv shrugged, seemingly unconcerned, and mentally kicked herself for babbling. She needed to get back into the practice of conversing with strangers, two-leggers especially. People, she corrected herself. You're supposed to call them people. She glanced at Carter, but he didn’t look annoyed at all.

She perked up considerably when he offered to get her earbuds. “Really? Yeah, thanks Carter, that would be awesome, but… how? You aren’t that much taller than I am,” she teased, her golden-brown eyes glinting playfully. Actually, if Liv had to guess, Carter was a good half a foot taller than she was, but he still wouldn’t be able to just reach up and untangle the wire that was hanging down from near the top of the fence. Liv glanced appraisingly at the fence and grinned. If push came to shove, she would get them down herself… but she wanted to see what Carter had up his sleeve first.

[UPstart]

"Oh well actually um..." Carter stammered, getting a little overexcited and nervous. Ok, c'mon don't screw this up, how often do you get a chance for something like this. You have a chance to help her out and not look like an idiot. You can do this. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves for a moment. "Um I can get them, just by... well. Um maybe its better to j-just show you," he said and took a deep breath before he tried it.

The energy disk formed again, hovering a little bit above the ground. Carter took a deep breath and stepped on it, rising up and skating through the air. It had taken him a lot of practice on the energy disk, but at the same time it felt almost natural to him. He moved with it easily when he was relaxed, just like he did on his skateboard.

He flew up to where the headphones were tangled in the fence, stopping for a moment and looking at them carefully. Balancing on the board, Carter carefully took his time untangling them. He didn't want to be responsible for ruining her headphones just as he was trying to save them. It took him a moment to untangle it, but he got it!

"H-here you go!" He said with a slight smile and glided over to her. Carter passed them to her shyly, swallowing slightly as his nerves came back full blast being so close to her. She had been really nice to him, why he had no idea. He thought he remembered hearing that she was a Paragon, and if he remembered correctly from Emma Frost talking about the teams, they were the ones she warned him to be especially wary of. Liv seems so cool though, and as much a he hated it a part of his was warming up to her. "I hope I d-didn't ruin them," he said getting off the energy disk and not looking at her.

[Rhetoric]

“Ruin them?” Liv was pretty sure she’d always get a thrill out of seeing other people’s powers, but she was doing her best to play it off like she saw dudes flying around on beams of light everyday. “Are you kidding? You’re totally my hero! Although, I guess everyone here is a hero-in-training, huh? Thanks, Carter.” Beaming, Liv tucked her earbuds into her front pocket. She scowled at Cuil as the little bird’s eyes followed his ‘spoils’. “Say thank you to the nice two-legger, Cuil. Carter just saved your feathery butt.”

Ye can’t defeat me, Livi, Cuil chirped ardently. I’m a warrior. Yer just an egg.

Liv sighed, hands on her hips as the tiny sparrow circled overhead. “I get zero respect, even from a little nugget like him,” she said, pointing up with a lazy grin. “So, that… light thing is your power? Wicked. I wish I had an active power like that.” Liv glanced down at the skateboard lying abandoned on its side and flipped it back onto its wheels with the toe of her Converse. “It’s a bit like your skateboard, isn’t it? Weird how our powers work. You’re good at skateboarding, and you wind up with a power that utilizes that particular talent. I deal with animals day in and day out, and I end up able to talk to them.” She looked up from where she was testing the skateboard with one foot, suddenly startled. “Dude, or are you one of those poor kids that got bitten by something radioactive or dropped in toxic waste?” She dismissed the idea near as soon as she got it. Carter didn’t really seem the type to go hang out around nuclear waste dumps or genetic labs.

“You’re an Acolyte, aren't you?” Liv asked, genuinely interested. She liked Carter. He was no Paragon, but there were only so many abrasive, superior personalities a person could deal with in a twenty-four hour period. She'd already met a fair few people from the red team. Ricki, Gavin, Ian, Maddy... Liv grinned at Carter, her head tilted to the side curiously. “They seem like pretty cool people.”

[UPstart]

"Um well yea, I g-guess they are," Carter said thinking about who else was on his team. He had a big smile on his face for just a minute, feeling really heroic just like the people in the comics that he loved to read about and the one he drew and wrote. It felt good to help someone out and be thanked for it, especially cause it was a really pretty girl that had an amazing smile and really seemed to be nice to him. "I um, I haven't really m-met anyone yet," he added quietly, smile leaving his face as he started feeling nervous about his team.

Oh man what if the rest of my team is as jerk like as my roommate? The one girl I meet that's actually nice to me isn't on my team, and the guy I have to live with is a jerk. He put some sort of sculpture thing on my desk, for what just to show me that he has this awesome power and he could do all this stuff I can't. At least I didn't see him when I came back from the shower or this morning. Good though, the less I have to deal with that jerk the better. I just hope that others on my team are a lot nicer, Carter thought and swallowed hard. He shouldn't be thinking bad thoughts like this now, not when he was talking to Liv, probably the nicest girl he'd ever met.

"I-I am a mutant though, just like everyone else here. Um I think," he said nervously and made his energy disk disappear. "I think um, that um, if anyone was Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four would be helping them out." He had a slight smile on his face at that, as those groups were some of his heroes. He thought Spider-Man was the coolest, and he had a crush on Sue Storm ever since he was a little kid and she first became famous. "D-do you know how t-to skateboard?" He asked trying to appear more friendly since she had been nice to him the whole time.

[Rhetoric]

Liv grinned at the thought of Spiderman. She'd give both hands to meet him. The guy was fit and something about that mask was utterly hot. Carter was right, though. People that mutated unnaturally probably got help elsewhere. She hadn't even thought about the Fantastic Four. She shrugged and looked down at the skateboard she'd been rolling slightly beneath her foot.

"Hell, no." Liv laughed and shook her head. "Skateboarding's not my jam. I tend to fall off things at the best of times, let alone when there's wheels involved." It was true. Liv had excellent balance, a lifetime of gymnastics ensured that, but she tended to play too hard and that resulted in far less grace than one would expect. "I do better on things when they’re stationary.”

She wasn't a showoff, but Liv's pride had been smarting since last night. The Snow White jokes had left a bad taste in her mouth, and she was eager to show someone that she was no princess. Liv couldn't help but wish once again that her power was just a bit more active, but she'd just have to use what she had. She popped the skateboard up onto it’s back wheels and picked it up, looking it over critically, like it was about to bite her. How hard could it be, really? Carter had made it look simple enough. Liv looked sidelong at the Acolyte before she tossed the skateboard out onto the court, wheels down.

Liv shot him a devilish wink and darted forward. It was a simple combination, a round off into a back handspring into a layout, but Liv timed her steps, landing on the skateboard. She should have been pleased that she’d managed to stick that but some part of her brain spurred her into taking it further. She used her own momentum and grabbed the bottom of the board with one hand, taking it with her as she added another handspring. Genius that she was, Liv didn’t consider where her feet were supposed to go when she landed. She came down too far forward on the board and the skateboard popped up onto two wheels, skidding to a stop and launching her off.

Liv tucked and rolled back onto her feet, only to make contact with the net and take half a fall over to the other side. By the time she came to a complete stop she was laughing too hard to speak. She was sprawled on the court, her foot still hanging in the net as she sat up, supporting her weight with her arms. Liv shot Carter a huge smile. “See?” she said, still chuckling to herself. "I always fudge the landing." She freed her foot from the net and jumped back over it to rejoin Carter, grabbing up the skateboard on her way. “I think I sat on my sticks.” Groaning, Liv pulled her drumsticks out of her back pocket. They were none the worse for wear so Liv slid them up her sleeves and beamed at Carter. “Bet I can stick the landing this time.”

[-RAM-]

Rexy was obviously no where to be seen nearby. Jax'd checked vaugely down the boys dorm corridor and down near the enterance of the mansion- he couldn't be bothered look elsewhere. Perhaps not finding her was for the best. Give our pet rexasaurus time to cool down before we make contact again. Jax smirked at the thought, making his way outside the mansion and roaming the grounds at his lesure. Riker'd had a rough wake up call- he may as well get some time to himself. Jax knew he for one would probably go straight back 'ta bed after somethin' like that, and if he'd lost his sleep, he'd want to take a nice long shower to wake him up completely.

Jax's hands were still thrust in his pockets as his slightly heavy steps echoed in his ear, before...

Jax stared at the girl, without realizing that his legs were carring him all the way to the tennis court, taking long stides to get there as soon as possible. Another thing Jax hadn't realized for a second until after it'd happened was that he was practically howling with laughter as he entered the court.

Jax was pretty sure that during his fits of laughter, he heard a voice talk to him- but well... frankly, there was no one else around. Maybe it was just his mind playing up. Perhaps he was remembering something similar that happened before...? Huh... audio recordings never did play automatically in his mind ever before though... weird.

Jax decideded to leave the matter be- and reached the courts with his laughter reduced to chuckles. He wasn't feelin' sorry for the girl or nothing- although he normally might've, 'cause man that crash looked painful - but he thought it was probably because he also saw the girl laugh it off too. "Nice, nice." he approved, walking in, noticing the greasy hair'd kid who he'd met yesterday, but not really acknowledging him. "D'you always drop that way? 'Cause damn, I gotta hang around you more often then." Jax was still chuckling as he spoke, "... man, you're quite near Rexy on my list right now!" Ahhhh. Could this place get any better?

[Rhetoric]

Liv bristled, her laughter choking off into an annoyed growl. Some guy was making his way toward her and Carter and his tone was as pompous as his swagger. Liv cast the Acolyte beside her a questioning look before she decided that whoever the intruder was, he was no friend of Carter’s. She had to crane her neck back to get a good look at him. He was gorgeous in a careless way, but the arrogant smirk on his face plainly said that he was well aware of it. Liv got the impression this was someone who checked himself out each time he passed a mirror, and not in a joking around, Gavin sort of way, but in a sincere, ‘I’m too sexy for my shirt’ manner.

Gross.

“Uh… dunno what you’re talking about, dude.” Liv hiked an eyebrow. Who the hell is Rexy? If there’s a f*cking dinosaur running around here I wanna go play with it NOW, she thought distractedly. “But you wish you could look that good wiping out.” She smirked right back at the stranger, her lip curled aggressively. Liv didn’t like being laughed at. She really didn’t like that this guy had crashed a perfectly good time with his psycho babble and was standing there ignoring Carter and…what? Waiting for her to swoon? Yeah right.

“Why don’t you go strike a pose somewhere else, champ? We’re skateboarding here.” She smiled sincerely at Carter and winked. The fact that she’d just told him she turned any wheeled apparatus into an implement of destruction was unimportant. If it got rid of the pretty boy Gorilla, Liv would probably say anything.

[UPstart]

It was like Carter froze when that guy from last night that had been a jerk and driving that fancy car came up to them. He had been going over to help Liv stand up, because his mom raised him to be a gentlemen, but when he heard the obnoxious laughter he just stopped. He had no idea what to do and all that comfort that he built up with Liv just melted away and he stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

Carter had never been good with confronting guys like this, or people like that. Liv seemed to have no problem getting in that kid's face, and truth be told he felt like a total wimp next to her now. He just saw that guy and he felt his voice catch in his throat and eyes glued to the floor awkwardly so he wouldn't make eye contact with this guy. He didn't want to give him any reason to pick on him, and the last thing he wanted was to start something with a guy like him.

He looked between Liv and the boy discreetly, swallowing hard and trying to think of a way to blend into the shadows. Ok don't get nervous, just don't say anything and he'll ignore you. Man this sucks I was sort of starting to have fun. I wonder if I can get my skateboard back and leave without any of them noticing?