Draining the remainder of his drink Zephyr placed the empty glass softly upon the Formica counter top as he silently listened to the private anecdotes of the two females before him. It would seem that neither of them had attained their mutations under ideal circumstances, but then was there such a thing as an ideal context for one to discover the hidden talents of their blood? All too often such revelations resulted in a total upheaval of the individuals life style and perspective, perchance passing through stages of denial, fear, anger and possibly shame before at last arriving at acceptance.

There were of course exceptions to the above, some were fortunate to come from truly caring homes; born to parents whose affection was not conditional upon the absence of the X-gene. Others were born with milder mutations or powers that were more fascinating than fearsome, the gift of flight for instance was an ability that many could only dream of possessing, yet for a fortunate few that dream was a reality that caused to them to thank genetic code instead of curse it.

As for the elemental himself Simon preferred to believe that he had dealt with his own manifestation quite rationally, aside from a cursory period of disbelief during his initial practice sessions the hessian had accepted his newfound powers rather swiftly. Indeed, outside of his tutors, the mercenary’s personal training sessions had occupied a significantly quantity of time, providing as much stress relief as they did precision by allowing him to focus on something beyond his father’s sight or control. It granted him a sense of independence, providing the elemental with freedoms he would not otherwise have possessed while under his father’s thumb.

A brief grimace flickered across the hessians features as he imagined how his life might have differed had his mutation never surfaced. Undoubtedly he’d still be residing in the same bland apartment his father had purchased for him on his sixth birthday, pouring over the financial figures of one establishment or another as he attempted to gauge their liquidity or analyze their expenditures. The work would have bored him to no end and left him dissatisfied, frustrated and more cynical then he was currently. All in all it was not a trail of thought the aeromancer enjoyed pursuing and thus he swiftly abandoned it.

As Ghosts disconsolate narrative came to its conclusion the elemental found that the group had once again come full circle, causing two pairs of eyes to gaze curiously in his direction. ‘What to do?’ The thought coursed idly through the mercenary’s mind as debated whether to share his own initial experience or to once again redirect the conversation, after a moments pause the elemental closed his azure eyes and sighed softly, opting to deliver a slightly inaccurate account which would likely be more palatable to his current audience than the truth. Somehow Zephyr doubted either girl would react positively if he informed that his own manifestation had resulted in an accidental, yet justifiable death.

“My own powers surfaced under slightly different conditions” Simon began slowly as he recalled a ‘practice sessions’ a few weeks after his initial flare up; it wasn’t his finest moment but it would do. “I was loitering at a train station as I waited for my connection when another train arrived at my platform. Its contents consisted of approximately six coach loads of rather vapid adolescents for the female high school just down the street. As the doors opened all of these chattering, giggling girls charged out enmasse with little regard for those around them. ”

The mercenary paused at this point, raising his hand to face and massaging his temples between thumb and forefinger; offering the appearance of one endeavoring to ward off a migraine. In reality however the elemental was attempting to conceal the subtle smirk which had lifted the corners of his lips slightly.

“I was not the tallest of individuals at the time and so when the young ladies dashed out I was propelled backwards a good few feet before losing my balance and upending a dustbin atop myself, an act which seemed to cause no end of amusement for my adolescent aggressors.” Lowering his hand so that his eyes were revealed yet his mouth remained hidden the hessian stared impassively for a moment at the two gamines before him, as though silently daring them to voice any amusement themselves.

“As you can imagine I didn’t take too kindly to their antics, however aside from glaring at them there was little more I could do.” The irritated tone in the elementals voice abruptly dissipated, replaced instead with feigned astonishment which itself swiftly gave way to a smug overtones. “Imagine my surprise then when I throw out my arm to grasp a nearby bench and a rather violent gale sweeps the length of the platform and… well, British uniforms being what they are, roughly fifty girls developed a sudden exhibitionist streak.”

Finishing the last of the pretzels in his hand Zephyr glanced from Ghost to Katrina and back again before speaking once more. “So, now that the awkward icebreakers are out of the way what’s next? Truth or dare? Hide and seek or something else?”

Ghost learning to turn into a ghost involved a bit of embarrassment in front of her family. Zephyr's story included a bit of the same. First he fell into a dustbin, then accidentally caused gale force winds to repay the girls who had pushed him fifty times over for his own embarrassment. That kind of thing was always funnier when it happened to other people. Katrina was smiling by the end of the story, and in truth, had started that smile at the part when Zephyr sat on the ground with the rubbish from the bin all over him.

Even when he glanced over his hand to gage their reactions, she couldn't wipe the grin off her face. In her imagination he had a candy wrapper stuck in his hair as he sat glowering on the ground. It seemed so out of place that the prim and proper young man would ever have tripped and fallen, let alone in such a circumstance.

The moral of the story was that girls in Zephyr's presence should always wear pants. By accident or design, it seemed that skirts wind did not mix especially well and it ended up more embarrassing for the ones wearing the skirts than for the wind elemental. She couldn't tell if there was a moral to Ghost's story.

>>>“So, now that the awkward icebreakers are out of the way what’s next? Truth or dare? Hide and seek or something else?”

Katrina had mentioned hide and seek earlier, but she didn't really feel like playing now. Truth or dare was better left for late night slumber parties. She also didn't particularly want to lie, in case there were any awkward questions she didn't want anyone to know. Like any eighth grade girl, she had no desire to tell anyone whom she had a crush on, what her deepest darkest secret was, or any of those other things that were better left unsaid. Best to avoid that game completely.

“I know! Let's show Zephyr the attic. It's probably the only room of the place that didn't get completely water damaged over the winter, so there is a bunch of really cool stuff in there. There's a little access panel at the end of the girls' hall and when you pull the string, it opens and the stairs unfold. Let's go look!”

She bounced out of her seat, hastily put the left over pretzels away, and bounced back again to see if they were ready to go.

Any image where Zephyr was somewhat ruffled was met with approval in Ghost's mind. Sure, there was something formal and rule-oriented that made Ghost feel comfortable around the young adult, but there times when eve she thought he could afford to loosen up a little. She'd only just met the guy and already thought him a little stuffy. A friend like Katrina would do him good. The energy of youth seemed to be lacking with this one... maybe that was why she kept slipping up and thinking of him as a man. He didn't look old enough to be a man, but he certainly acted like one.

She smiled after Zephyr asked her a question. Oh dear... hopefully she wasn't needed to answer that because she'd missed it completely while wondering about Zephyr's seeming lack of innocence and how they could possibly ruffle his feathers. Katrina seemed to shake her head a bit and Ghost concurred. Because... well, she didn't really know what was going on anyway. Best to smile and follow along. Hopefully.

“I know! Let's show Zephyr the attic...."

Ghost blinked for a moment. Really there wasn't much up there beside old clothes, halloween costumes, and various other odds and ends... "We don't usually include the attic on our tour, but I don't see the harm in it." Ghost inclined her head, ever the gracious host as Katrina made a mad dash to put away to pretzel bag. Ghost collected the glass and juice boxes and deposited them in their appropriate places before leading the train onward and upward.

They'd already shown Zephyr the common area and the kitchen and parts of their souls, what was a little bit of attic after that? Ghost motioned to a hallway off to the left of the kitchen. "Administration and the DocProf are down that way, but It's really not much to see." So of course she led them to the stairs that went past the pantry. The stairs went up and Ghost's skirt swished back and forth as she took them two at a time. Having long legs made stair hopping natural. Being an air elemental meant she had no worries of stray breezes flipping up the flouncy fabric and exposing something that aught not be publicly exposed.

"Boys hall to the left, adult hall in the middle, and Katrina and myself live in the girl's hall." She moved easily to the right hand split. Ghost's room was closer to this stairwell so it was her most often used path into the dormitory area. She walked past it without a moment's hesitation even though the door was open. Her room wasn't their intended destination. The attic was. Tall as she was, it was no strain to catch the cord and pull. The wooden ladder pulled down after that and Ghost motioned for Zephyr and Katrina to go on ahead of her.

With his hands now free of both drink and salted snacks Zephyr nonchalantly placed his palms once more within the comfortable confines of cobalt jacket as his azure eyes glanced at his two hosts expectantly. The elementals fictitious tale seemed to have gone over quite well with the two girls if their matching grins were any indication and the hessian rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. Truthfully however the mercenary was pleased that he had been able he had been able to lighten the tone of the conversation and inject an element of humour into the air, even if it had been at his own expense, dealing with depressed gamines was did not rank highly on his list of things to do after all.

The first to brake the odd silence was, unsurprisingly, the more lively of the pair; with a brief exclamation of excitement. Leaping up in her seat as though shocked Katrina’s ashen eyes danced with their unique energy as she proudly announced that they would show their visitor the institute’s attic which, apparently, was something of a treasure trove for it housed a whole manner of “really cool stuff” that the blonde adolescent believed would be of interest to the British elemental. For his own part Zephyr was mildly bemused by the suggestion; because although the hazel haired hessian had come from a rather opulent family the majority of the mercenary’s life had been spent had been spent in apartments instead of a stand alone residence and as such he had never actually possessed an attic. Despite this though the elemental was aware that ones loft was not typically a venue which was displayed to visitors, a fact Ghost echoed mere moments later. Still, one never knew what the future held and if nothing it would allow the trio to emerge from the kitchen and explore another section of the mansion.

Watching silently as the his blonde protégé swiftly closed and replaced the package of salted snack to its proper placement within one of the many cupboards Zephyr removed an arm from the confines of his coat in order to deal with his own glass, only to have Ghost adroitly reach out and add it to her growing collection, leaving the lithe hessian at something of a loss as she idly placed the glasses within an obsidian dishwasher.

The moment swiftly passed however as the azure eyed elemental idly pushed himself away from the counter so that his weight was once more distributed fully upon his own two feet. No sooner had he regained his balance had Zephyr amiably gestured with his free hand for the two females to initiate the next stage of the tour. “Lead on.”

The casual pace with which the group set out seemed, at first, rather indolent to the hessians perceptions as he consciously restrained himself; making his strides more lethargic than usual so that he might avoid overtaking his guides. It had been some time since Simon had last traveled with an adolescent, although some of associates could, arguably, be labeled as such. In either case the mercenary had become somewhat unaccustomed to adapting his strides to adjust for those who were, as some might put it, vertically challenged. Still, the slower ambulate allowed his hosts to provide a greater degree of commentary to the various chambers and corridors which were passed on their way, thereby permitting the typically dissolute elemental to more accurately comprehend the layout of a structure he had only visited once before.

Despite their reduced pace however the mutant trio made their way down the girl’s hall in relatively little time and mere seconds the slender snow haired ingénue had revealed the stepped entrance to the institutes loft, before graciously stepping aside and motioning for the other members of the trio to proceed ahead of her. After taking a moment to grant a cursory glance at his companions raiment’s the British born mercenary raised a brow before taking the first step towards the stairs. “I suppose I’ll go first shall I?”

The attic was, as most rooms of it nature, dark, dusty and generally unwelcoming. The muted light which streamed in through an arced window on the right hand wall revealed that a fine film of grey powder covered nearly every horizontal surface, a testament to the loft’s infrequent use. Such unsavory conditions however were rectified easily enough; a quotidian switch located by the entrance provided a more adequate level of illumination via a shaded bulb hanging from the slanted roof. As for the slight cleanliness issue, a briefly conjured gust was enough to rise and dispel the coating of dust to the attics far corners with only a handful of objects being tossed to the floor. The end result allowed one a rather less obstructed view of a mildly cluttered area whose main decoration consisted of somewhat plain cardboard boxes of various sizes. If one were to look beyond these obstacles however they would easily be able to spot a modest range of furniture and other assorted item including floor lamps, scorched wardrobes and trunks as well as an oddly placed and slightly translucent foldable changing screen resting atop a tower of cardboard packages.

With his cursory cleanup and examination concluded Simon swiftly stepped away from the stairway exit and into the first free niche he could find among the mass of clutter so that both Katrina and Ghost might join him and reveal precisely where the aforementioned “cool stuff” might be located.

“So, what exactly are we searching for?”

Katrina kept up with the pair of long legged air elementals by sheer will and an extra dash of youthful energy. She made up for their longer strides by adding a hop, skip, or a jump every once in awhile. Though it expended more energy, she was young and had energy to spare.

At the ladder Zephyr gave a pointed look at their skirts and offered to go up first. How thoughtful of him. Katrina followed directly after him and sneezed at the top of the ladder when he sent dust clouds swirling to the corners of the room. That was a cool cleaning shortcut, right there. If only she could do the same thing to the clothes in her bedroom. A quick gust of wind that sent them all into the closet would be much faster than cleaning them up the normal way.

“You could start your own cleaning service and make a ton of money for cleaning a house in like five minutes.” Not that it would be a super exciting job.

She also moved to make room for Ghost to climb up the rest of the way and glanced around at the attic. She had only been up here once, last summer when everyone had been cleaning up and repairing the mansion. It was quickly decided that the attic hadn't needed many repairs, and attentions had been diverted to other areas that needed more care.

“An attic like this is kind of like a time capsule, I think. It keeps a record of people's lives so that later people like us can come along and imagine what their lives must have been like.” A student that used to live here could have studied at that desk. One of the teachers may have had this lamp on their desk. Someone may have worn this outfit for some special occasion.

Speaking of outfits, there was a big trunk right in the middle of the floor that, if Katrina's memory was correct, held a combination of Halloween costumes and vintage clothing that also could have been worn on that late October holiday. The young illusionist moved toward the big trunk and removed a lamp from on top of it so she could open it and reveal the contents.

“See?” Katrina removed the top article of clothing and let it unfold itself as she held it up. It was a drab colored jumpsuit that could have been the type worn by a World War II fighter pilot- someone much taller than herself.

“Who do you think could have worn it? I'll bet it was someone very brave,” she mused. “Here,” she held it up to Zephyr's shoulders, “I bet it would fit you.”

Ghost took up the rear since her skirt was the shortest. It was nice of Zephyr to take the hint, especially after his last tale of skirt flipping. Well, unintentional skirt flipping. She wrinkled her nose at the settling dust, but tried to refrain from complaining. It was only dust. Kat had locked onto a trunk and no force would separate the two. The younger girl opened the lid and immediately started finding things to dress their male companion in.

Ghost scouted the attic and seeing that there was a changing screen, decided there was no harm in the fun. "Would you try it on?" Ghost ried out an earnest smile that echoed Katrina's. She, of course, had no right to ask him, but imagining him in something militaristic somehow seemed fitting. And besides, it was a good find.

That and there was something positively frilly poking out the side of the trunk. Who could deny the urge to find out what that crunchy fabric was?

It was... peach. Or at least the dainty flower print was pink with a fine pattern of wildflowers splattered in such a way that was hopefully fashionable in years past. A first glance gave the material a creamy butter color, but on closer inspection it was really white with fragile yellow details. The result was a very peach dress with darker peach details.

And the material kept coming when she pulled at it. Frills and poofs and all kinds of looped material and some kind of stiff under pinnings. When Ghost did find the top it was cap sleeves and a structured sewn top with a sash that seemed even longer than the dress itself. Except when Ghost held the dress up it was much shorter than a dress designed for a full grown woman.

"I don't suppose Zephyr would fit in this." Ghost carefully held up the dress in front of Katrina. It might fit... or it might be just a little too short. Katrina seemed to be sprouting upward recently. There was no way to tell without her trying it on. Ghost lay the dress that looked like it stepped out of Gone with the Wind suspiciously next to Katrina and dove back into the trunk to get the straw hat that accompanied it. After setting those items aside the trunk seemed somewhat deflated but by no means empty.

Ghost smiled at the two. "You should try it on, Katrina." No doubt if Zephyr was dressing up, Katrina would too. For some reason the idea of dressing herself up was lost on Ghost.

Regarding the relegated loft with an indifferent gaze Zephyr permitted his attention to wander after he failed to discern any items of immediate interest. Absently stepping aside as his two female companions ascended the azure eyed elemental briefly turned his focus to the air currents within the attic, acquainting himself with their size and flow as he attempted to divine the dimensions of the gloomy garret. The mansion itself possessed a considerable girth and as such the attic was also rather substantial in that regard, indeed due to the collective mass of various bibelots and curio’s the approximate capacity of the room could not easily be determined by sight alone, hence the hazel haired hessians present task of mental mapping. It was a fairly simply exercise as the lofts limits were easily identifiable, far more difficult however was attempting to identify any individual objects in the vast array of clutter contained within the attics walls. Still though, with nothing better to do until his chaperon’s located something of interest there was little more he-

“You could start your own cleaning service and make a ton of money for cleaning a house in like five minutes.”[/color]

Broken from his ponderings the reticent mercenary blinked once before glancing down towards his diminutive protégé with a deadpan expression upon features. “Somehow I can picture my talents accomplishing more than janitorial tasks.” The statement was delivered in a dry tone as the hessian idly endeavored to communicate his lack of excitement at the prospect of such an occupation. Katrina however seemed oblivious to his enervated efforts as she shifted her position to allow Ghost access to the loft and then proceeded to utter forth her thoughts regarding the contents of the garret which, while no doubt logical to the mind of a prepubescent adolescent, seemed somewhat flawed to the dissolute mercenary. After all a time capsule was designed to hold items which held some form of value or importance to their owner, the various odds and ends scattered around the attic however were simply items which had been placed out of the way and forgotten over the years. Veritably, in the hessians mind at least, if an object did hold some value to its owner than the item in question would never have arrived within the attics confines in the first place.

Despite his antithetical thoughts however Zephyr kept his peace for it was clear that Katrina was still rather enthused about the potential treasures nestled away within various containers strewn about the room and the cerulean eyed mercenary saw no need to diminish the lilliputian gamines vivacity. After all it was her home and he could hardly come up with any better ideas with his limited knowledge of the mansions layout, besides it was entirely possible the gray eyed child would stumble upon something of interest though precisely what the energetic ingénue would classify as interesting was up to debate.

With a slight shake of his head the adroit elemental dismissed his cogitations as he returned his focus to the blond haired adolescent as she waded into the veritable swamp of knick knacks and numerous trifles. Once she became immersed within one of the many chests in the room though the hazel haired hessian found his attention drifting yet again as he cast out his spatial senses once more and idly began to survey the area; seeking out oddly shaped displacements in the air and casually shifting the surrounding air to test the flexibility of various unseen items. The activity was akin to a puzzle, attempting to derive the identity of an object based solely upon its outline and rough malleability. The vast majority of items such as furniture were far too obvious due to their large size, on the opposite side of the spectrum however whose miniscule size made them so obscure that they could have been anything from books to suitcases to-

Zephyr brow’s furrowed abruptly as his posture straightened slightly and his eyes narrowed towards a far corner of the loft where the air slowly began to compress. ‘It has to be a toy, there’s no-’

“Here, I bet it would fit you.”[/color]

Torn from his thoughts once more Zephyr glanced down and blinked briefly in surprise as he noted that Katrina had managed to pull herself away from the chest and was now standing almost on her toes as she draped a rather worn paramilitary uniform across his body as she attempted to calculate whether or not the frayed raiment’s would fit the azure eyed mercenary.

"Would you try it on?"[/color]

Shifting his cobalt gaze towards slender sylph Simon raised a brow as he gave his fellow air elemental a quizzical look which then slowly passed to Katrina. Where had this sudden fascination about altering his attire come from? The two of them were female yes but surely they had moved past playing with dolls and such? The hessian himself had never truly understood the apparent appeal of wasting countless hours trying on countless garments which would in all likely hood barely be worn more than a handful of times, his own wardrobe could easily fit in a suitcase and often did when he needed to travel abroad. The elemental did, admittedly, keep a few items of clothing at his other abodes but they were mainly for convenience.

Taking the proffered article item of clothing out of Katrina’s smaller hands the lithe mercenary grasped the uniform by the shoulders and stared at his two companions with raised brows, his earlier concern momentarily forgotten as he gave the females an almost skeptical glance. “I hadn’t expected the two of you to be quite so forward, do you always attempt to undress your guests or am I simply special?”

Allowing his expression to develop a slight smirk Zephyr deftly folded the threadbare costumed and held it idly in one hand by his side as he turned his azure back to the two mansion residents. “In either case I shall have to decline… however,” he added as Ghost gradually withdrew a peach coloured dress of some sort from yet another chest. “Don’t let me dissuade you; I’m certain this particular costume would compliment Ghost just as well as it would me.” The hessian nonchalantly extended his arm to offer the outfit which Katrina had first presented to him.

>>>"Would you try it on?"

Zephyr looked at Ghost, then slowly his gaze shifted to Katrina. It was a look that quite clearly stated, “You've got to be kidding.” It was the kind of look younger sisters especially enjoyed seeing on the faces of their elder siblings. Katrina, having no experience with elder sibling, hadn't realized until now what fun it was to earn such a look.

Of course, the look didn't last very long. It disappeared behind a smirk, which Katrina somehow instinctively recognized was a much more dangerous expression to be on an older brother's face. That was the kind of face he'd been wearing right before he'd blown her right off her branch and swept her up into the sky. This time, the mistral manipulator did not activate his mutation, but fell back instead upon his powers of sarcasm.

>>>“I hadn’t expected the two of you to be quite so forward, do you always attempt to undress your guests or am I simply special?”

That wasn't necessarily a 'no'. At least not yet.

“Very special. Besides, you can change behind that screen.” She pointed to the folded up wood and paper construction that was perched atop the old dresser.

Ghost had found something flowery and frilly and was holding it up to Katrina's shoulders. She wrinkled her nose, mostly because she wasn't certain she could even figure out how to put that on, with the crazy sash and the fabric going every which way.

“I'll try that on if Zephyr tries on his, and you try on something, too.” In a show of good faith, she took the straw hat from Ghost and set it on top of her head, adjusting it a bit because the straw was a little scratchy against her forehead. She peered out from beneath the brim, eyebrows raised hopefully.

>>>“In either case I shall have to decline… however,” ... “Don’t let me dissuade you; I’m certain this particular costume would compliment Ghost just as well as it would me.”

The dark haired boy held out his outfit to Ghost, clearly having decided that he had no intention to put it on. How very older-brotherly of him to refuse to cooperate. Was he too dignified to ever have fun? Had he grown up so fast that he had never learned to at least play along? Was he so self conscious that he couldn't even lower his defenses around a pair of innocent and light hearted girls who'd never harm a fly?

The young illusionist continued to peer out from under the brim of her hat, her eyebrows puckered, her lower lip protruding just slightly in her best imitation of a little sister style pout. Her eyes shone, still hopeful.

“Please?”

Did they always undress their guests? Ghost shook her head no, but was willing to admit that they were willing to make exceptions for exceptional people.

It wasn't until Zephyr handed off the garment to her that Ghost thought to compare their frames. Sure, the brown haired almost-man might have an inch or so on her, but they were almost of the exact same build. They were both shaped like a pole. In fact, Zephyr might have more curve to his body since his shoulders were perhaps a touch wider. Without going back to back, though, it would be impossible to tell.

Ghost sighed. How depressing.

"I'll try on something if you find it for me, Kat."

And Zephyr seemed distracted. "Maybe dress up isn't your main interest here, but you could humor us." She wasn't mad, but rather trying to appeal to Zephyr in a non-rude, non-finger-snapping-in-front-of-his-eyes way. Kat intoned a please. And Ghost gave Zephyr wide eyes and repeated the request and tried to make it even more reasonable. "Would you try something on? If not this then something else? Please? If for no other reason than to con Kat into something frilly?" Ghost smiled at Kat almost apologetically.

The uniform lay with decorum atop some freshly dusted boxes where Ghost had put it to tempt him after he handed it off to her. It looked quite reasonable there on the boxes. Ghost was sure they could do worse. And really, what had him so distracted? She tried to tippy toe and catch a glimpse of it, but there was no telling what he'd seen. It could have been a picture of his mother for all she knew with all the importance it seemed to weigh on his mind.

Since she couldn't tell, she went back into the trunk of costumes. There was one rather large and rubbery shoe... but she couldn't seem to find the other one. Zephyr could be a clown, though why he'd pass up on soldier in favor of sadistic makeup wearing laugh box was beyond her comprehension.

“Please?”[/color]

Well the child was certainly persistent, the elemental would grant her that at the very least, however persistence had the annoying habit of evolving into obdurateness if taken too far and while the hazel haired hessian doubted that Katrina were capable of being quite so stubborn over such a trivial matter he had no true desire to test his convictions too thoroughly, in a worst case scenario the ashen eyed adolescent would spend the rest of their encounter sulking and while such behavior could possibly be entertaining at first the juvenile response would grate on him eventually. Therefore a flat out refusal was no longer sufficient; he needed to alter the terms of this little farce and at least pretend that he were willing to take part in this immature affectation.

Folding his arms across his chest the customarily reserved mercenary leaned against a nearby stack and cast an almost contemptuous glance towards his blonde haired protégé, it was an expression which combined ‘Over my dead body’ with hubristic levels of confidence that his own demise was long ways in coming. There was a reply waiting on the tip of the elementals tongue but he held his peace for a few seconds, waiting for another voice, for he had no doubt that his fellow elemental would also have an opinion on the matter and more than likely it would be the same as liliputian gamines…

“Would you try something on? If not this then something else? Please? If for no other reason than to con Kat into something frilly?"[/color]

Rolling his azure eyes at the pair of females before him Zephyr lowered his head and sighed in something close to exasperation before raising his gaze back to the mansion residents and sending them a sidelong glance as he gave a cursory scan of the room and his attention diverged as his spatial awareness once again crept in the direction of the peculiar item lodged towards the back of the attic, thus his focus was only partially upon his associates as he voiced his response. “I’m afraid you’re wasting your time ladies, unless one of these “costumes” happens to a black cotton Armani suit I have no intention of changing any article of my attire.”

After allowing a moment for his words to sink in the Kabal member continued “As I said before though don’t let me dissuade you, I am perfectly happy to act as an observer so feel free to try on what you will. I’ll even take pictures if you like, I’m sure your mother would adore them Katrina. As he said this a light condescending tone entered the mercenary’s voice as his left hand trailed down to his pocket and nonchalantly withdrew a slim obsidian cell phone and deftly aimed the device in the girls direction so that they could pick out the miniscule camera embedded in the top. There was then a faint click of a button followed by an almost inaudible whir of components as the miniature camera did its work and captured an image of the two female mansion residents.

“What do you think?” the question was posed almost idly as Zephyr flipped open the top half of his phone and twisted the device to display the pictures to the girls, whether they approved or otherwise was of no real consequence to the British hessian though for his attention was still partially centered around the disquieting item at the back of the loft.

‘It has to be a toy, I can’t believe they’d allow an actually firearm with so many children in such close proximity, but at the same time it’s too detailed, I can even pick out the spare magazine.’

Zephyr’s focus was almost solely upon the potential weapon at this point, the air pressure surrounding the item had increased several times by now so that the mercenary could clearly picture the design in his mind, such an unnatural manipulation of the air molecules would undoubtedly catch Ghost’s attention as well, in Simon’s mind however the sooner this was dealt with the better, the only thing question was whether to remove the weapon in Katrina’s presence or not. Certainly it could be considered more prudent for the child to remain unaware of the possibility that her pseudo home could house such dangers, the only difficulty was in retrieving the gun without arousing the girls suspicion for curiosity was a trait capable of killing more than mere felines.

Now that they mentioned it, Ghost and Zephyr were close to the same size and shape. If they had shared the same eye color or hair color they could have been brother and sister. Maybe. They did share the same element, but mutations, as far as the young illusionist could tell, didn't necessarily run in the family. Her mother, for example, could split herself into to people at once and somehow manage to run both bodies at the same time; it had nothing to do with illusions.

>>>"I'll try on something if you find it for me, Kat."

Poor military uniform; Ghost didn't want to try it on either. She wasn't averse to trying something though. Back to the trunk they both went. Ghost found a rubbery shoe. Katrina pulled out what looked like a corset. It didn't look at all comfortable.

Her plea to Zephyr and her puppy dog face was not very effective. For her troubles all she earned was a look that clearly said, Over my dead body. An exasperated sigh followed Ghost's seconding the request. They were clearly defeated, unless they could find this 'black cotton Armani suit' he was talking about. Katrina dug faster. There didn't seem to be anything in the trunk that was even black, let alone a suit.

Her father had had a fancy suit like that for parties, but it was all the way back in Virginia and not likely to travel all the way up here on its own. “Accio Armani” only worked in the Larry Botter books and Katrina was a mutant not a wizard. The most she could do was make something look like Armani even when it wasn't. She didn't even know what made an Armani suit different from a normal one. She'd seen a lot of suits and to her, they all looked pretty much the same.

She dug further in, losing hope of finding Zephyr's suit, but still interested to see what else was in there. She stood up holding a long flowery pink kimono in front of her. It was much too long for her, but maybe for Ghost...

She hadn't been paying attention to Zephyr's threats to take pictures of them, so the noise of his camera phone caught her off guard.

“Hey!” She dropped the silky garment and scampered around a cardboard box to see what kind of silly expression she might have been making at the time he snapped the photo. “Let me see!”

He turned the phone toward her and she grabbed his wrist, lowering the phone to her own eye level. It wasn't a terrible photo. She'd been looking down, so it wasn't great, but altogether not bad. The quality of the picture itself was surprisingly good for a cell phone. After a moment, the display automatically changed back to the viewfinder mode, ready to take another photo. It was zoomed in on Zephyr's nose.

“Your turn.” The adolescent illusionist poked at the Select button to capture the image and the camera once again made its picture taking whirring noises.

A waste of time? What else were they to do on a lazy summer day with no obligations and nothing better to occupy their time? Katrina seemed a bit saddened by Ghost's inherent distaste for the militairy outfit. If the girl couldn't find something else, she would try it on. She had told the girl she would try something on anyway.

Ghost muttered about Zephyr being a party pooper even as she sensed the tensing the the air. A flex of air pressure in the same area that Zephyr had been fixated before. Honey eyes glanced up at the man. Surely he hadn't lured them up there just so he could get his hands on something hidden here. She tried to identify the object, but it was hard and foreign to her. Especially through someone else's aerial manipulations.

Whatever it was, Zephyr didn't give it too much of his attention once he seemed to note Ghost watching him. Her eyes widened at the phone. They had cameras in them now? Kat snatched it up and over teh girl's shoulder she saw a surprised minature version of herself and Katrina holding something very pink.

The abandoned kimono was picked up from it's unceremonious pile while Katrina took a picture of Zephyr's boogers. Interesting. Maybe she could use it as a pattern to finish fashioning the jumble of yukata fabric in her dresser drawer into something wearable. This one was... well, it was very pink. And kimono, real kimono anyway, had a lot of underlayers including what amounted to a rectangle of cardboard. This one didn't even seem to have a proper obi. But at least it didn't smell like brass buttons and honorable death.

"Well, let's go get changed, Katrina. You first. I'll guard the screen if you like." A brief flash of pink tongue against pale lips signified Ghost's thoughts on Zephyr's participation. She was certainly going to watch Zephyr while Katrina got changed. Would he fetch the item while they seemed distracted?

The girls did little to hide their disappointment at the Kabal members decision, not that Zephyr held it against them. They were after all female and so such antics came naturally to them, though one would have thought that Ghost had reached the age where might have outgrown such puerile activities, a cognitive shrug swiftly dismissed the thought from the mercenary's mind; some people simply matured at different rates and others... well, not everyone could adjust to the veracity of the real world. Such individuals could be dangerous, especially if left unchecked, however they had also been the primary provider of the hazel haired elementals finances when he'd first started applying his powers in Europe, then as time progressed and the Kabal member refined his technique and broadened his list of contacts his early clients became his targets. It was a small point of irony that the British mercenary sometimes dwelled upon when selecting assignments and served to remind him that everything had its price.

Somewhat reluctantly the pair females returned their attention to the container of mismatched attire and once more resumed their search, though without their initial energy, indeed Katrina shoulders and upper body were hunched over in a pose conveyed a distinct sense dejection which Zephyr found both somewhat amusing compared to her earlier energy mere seconds ago. It was something of a conundrum for the hessian as to where precisely the child's vigor stemmed from, the mercenary was certain he'd never been quite so energetic at that age, however physical exercise never had been his forte so perhaps that was partially responsible. In either case the gamines puerile behavior was only made more entertaining when she abruptly jerked upwards at the sound of the picture and scampered haphazardly around one of the many cardboard constructs in the room and then dashed forward in order to view her captured image. The adolescents rejuvenated enthusiasm caused a light chuckle to escape the kabal members throat as he stared down at the blonde ingénue.

" Your turn.”

Zepyr blinked as his phone emitted the image capturing tone again and idly twisted the device is his grasp in order to view the new picture, only to release weary sigh as he took in the image of his own nose from a lower angle. "Cute." The words were spoken in a dry indifferent tone as the hessian deftly deleted the image from his phone and leveled a mirthless expression at his blonde protégé who neglected appear appropriately repentant as he attention was stolen by Ghost as the snow haired sylph finally consented to wear the pink garment Katrina had selected for her. Personally Zephyr felt the colour was slightly too strong to suit his fellow air elemental however as the hessian had no alternative in mind and no wish to be drawn back into the girls' game the reticent mercenary wisely kept his peace. The British elemental did however raise his brow when the submissive sylph shot her tongue out in an unexpected show of immaturity.

"Unless you intend to use that Ghost I suggest you keep it in your head." The words were issued only after Katrina had turned her back and even then they were only just above a whisper, however when one is capable of manipulating the air to their will certain avenues of communication are developed, in this particular instance Zephyr was able to craft a solitary stream of air across the modest expanse of space between Ghost and himself which bypassed Katrina completely, thereby creating an isolated channel for his words to travel, thus even though his response had been little more than a murmur the wan waif would hear his words as though they had been spoken directly into her ear.

After Katrina had dissapeared behind the screen the mercenary's thoughts began to wander once again and his attention swiftly shifted back to the unidentified firearm stored at the far end of the loft. An idle thought caused the air surrounding the weapons container to condense once more granting the hessain a greater degree of definition in his mind's eye as he utilized his spatial awareness to view obscure ordnance. It was, thankfully, rather modest in size, nowhere near large enough for a rifle or shotgun, a pistol or semiautomatic would be the most likely bet, however it was still possible that the weapon had been dissembled and he had found only a part of the whole.

Remaining quiescent until his he managed to discern the ruffle of fabric from behind the screen Zephyr made only a minor effort to detract suspicion from his movements, rolling his eyes at Ghost whose own honey shaded gaze had not left him since the blonde hair adolescent had begun changing. Pivoting on one foot the hazel haired Kabal member wordlessly began wandering amongst the collection of containers as he headed towards the back of the garret, meandering at an indolent pace until he at least crouched down and began to sort through a certain cardboard construct at a languid pace. There was no need to rush really, he'd seen the article Katrina had been given and it had clearly not been designed for ease of use. The hessian was actually half expecting the callow gamine to ask for Ghost's assistance in donning the garment. In any case hurried movements would only make him appear suspicious and garner additional attention.

Unwrapping the final layer of cloth from the item resting in the bottom of the worn shoebox the British mercenary released a weary sigh as his azure eyes examined the object before him and he once again whispered to Ghost. "This, could be an issue."

>>> “Cute.”

Zephyr was not amused. Was he ever amused, if it wasn't at someone else's expense? Probably not, Katrina decided. Amusement was an emotion, after all, and he didn't make a habit of showing his true emotions very often. That one time at the Labs had probably been a fluke, and she was unlikely to ever be able to crack that mask of his again. At least, not for a very long time.

He deleted the picture, but then she hadn't exactly expected him to save it as his wallpaper or anything like that. She didn't waste time pouting over it. As for repentance, that was about as likely as Zephyr cracking a genuine smile. Meh. Ghost had a frilly dress for her to try and and a promise to guard her back from any of the opposite gender spying her disrobed. Katrina grabbed the bundle of flowery fabric from Ghost and flounced to where the screen was resting. It took a moment to set it up as a barrier, but it was not heavy, and therefore not too terribly difficult to manage.

>>>"Unless you intend to use that Ghost I suggest you keep it in your head."

Katrina didn't hear that comment, and it was probably a good thing that she didn't. She was old enough to understand innuendo (but just barely) and young enough to still be embarrassed by it (and likely would remain so for quite some time). Clearly the air elemental should learn to watch his own tongue when (mostly) innocent ears had a chance of over hearing.

Behind the screen Katrina held up the dress by the shoulders, trying to formulate a plan for how she would accomplish getting the thing on. There were yards and yards of flowery fabric, perhaps enough to clothe three or four people if it had been divided out more conservatively. It had a zipper, but also a hook and a sash. Would approaching the thing from the bottom work better, or should she step in from the top?

She decided on the top down approach, stepping into the skirt part without bothering to take off her own skirt first. There was enough fabric, she decided, that it would cover almost all of her own outfit. She positioned her arms in the sleeves and attempted to reach around to zip up the back before the sleeves slipped down again. The waist band proved rather troublesome; the stitches that held it to the dress made the zipper rather cantankerous about that section of its journey, and it stubbornly refused to go any higher what with an underskirt and a sash in its way. That meant she had to take her own dress off, after all, so she had to start all over again.

By the time she extracted herself enough to remove her own outfit and put the flowery peach thing on again, several minutes had passed.

“Sorry this is taking so long,” she uttered, apologetically. Mostly to Ghost, because she was the one waiting her turn.

Finally she got the zipper to behave itself, fluffed the ridiculous sleeves a bit, and tied the sash in some sort of enormous bow on the back. At least, that's what it seemed like she was supposed to do with all that fabric.

“Well?” She stepped out from behind the curtain and spun around for their inspection.