>>"Right now? I don't want to go ice skating, no time soon. He doesn't have to take me anywhere,"

"It's okay, you don't have to go" Gemma smiled reassuringly, standing up from the bed "For now, you are staying right here anyway. I'm going to get you some dry clothes." she added, picking up the ones they have discarded before.
If Chase did not want to go anywhere with Hokee, she was more than fine with that. She did know the teen was probably not as badass as he wanted to look, and would not hurt the boy on purpose - he did save him, after all - but still, every mother is relieved when their child is not hanging out with a runaway. She couldn't help the feeling. And apart from saving Chase just now, Hokee has not done much to earn her trust yet.

>>"Fine. Won't take him. No skating. Does this place have paintball? What about paintball, you do that Chase?"

"Absolutely no shooting" she said in her calm mother-voice. Chase was too young for that. "Hokee, walk with me. You can hang out with Chase later when he gets better. He needs to rest now."

She was not angry or anything; she just felt like she needed to talk to Hokee some more. And Chase did need to rest. And paintball was absolutely out of the question.

>> "It's okay, you don't have to go. For now, you are staying right here anyway. I'm going to get you some dry clothes."

Chase nodded. Clothes would be nice. He'd feel better if it wasn't just a blanket and his boxers shielding his skin from the drafty infirmary.

>> "Fine. Won't take him. No skating. Does this place have paintball? What about paintball, you do that Chase?"

"Never heard of paintball," Chase replied. His old family had been of the pure "no shooting anything" or "doing anything violent" persuasion-- except when it came to "discipline", but that had been another story. They'd never used guns for that. His eyes sparked with interest, but his hopes were quickly dashed.

>> "Absolutely no shooting. Hokee, walk with me. You can hang out with Chase later when he gets better. He needs to rest now."

"I just woke up!" Chase protested, stifling a yawn unsuccessfully, "I'm not tired. Can't I come with?" He wasn't any too eager to brave the cold floor again, but he didn't want to be left alone with the scary, old man again.

Rule one of teens: No means Yes.

No shooting for Chase, that was what she could think. There was no way on earth the kid was to young to shoot some paintball at other kids. Saying no to the idea was nothing more then encouragement to do the exact opposite. He could play her game for a bit, though he could easily do the opposite. Guys were guys, and boys were boys and one thing both guys and boys did was run around with guns....even when they got older, just the ammunition changed. He wasn't one for giving gifts, and he wasn't attached to Chase at all, but he had this burning desire to make sure a slingshot found its way into the kid's hands, just to spite Taylor.

The body language of Ms Universe told him one thing, and even her words agreed with her motions, but he was in no hurry to go tagging along like some puppy. Not him. If he was a dog at all, he'd be one of those crazed ones, like a bulldog or Pincher...definitely not a poodle. Settling more on the edge of the bed, he leaned back a bit relaxing on his elbows. Of course Chase didn't know what Paintball was, then again this was the kid who couldn't tell the difference between solid and thin ice.

"You shoot little tiny....balls of paint..like water balloons." There, it was an odd way to describe it, but if he went that way, he could maybe win the kid over. Getting Chase to do anything Taylor didn't like was only more points for him in the end. Forget about trying to win her over, it was time to play dirty and he had every intention of using Chase against her. Meddle with the kid enough till she begged for him to stop, then he could get the car for sure.

The squinted eyes shifted towards the supplies. "Lot of fun, and no swimming needed." Having to shift strangely, he managed to wrap his fingers around the gauze roll again. For the moment being, the Doc seemed to be out of sight, must have gone to find a tuna sub or something. "Ignore her, if you can wipe your own as--....butt then you can play paintball."

>>"I just woke up! I'm not tired. Can't I come with?"

"You stay put, Chase" she said, but she was smiling at him "I don't need you to catch a cold. You can get out of bed when I have the dry clothes for you."

Doc could heal, but there was no need to bother him with colds, if they could be avoided.

Hokee, on the other hand, showed no signs of wanting to follow her. If anything, he just sat back.

>>"You shoot little tiny....balls of paint..like water balloons. Lot of fun, and no swimming needed. Ignore her, if you can wipe your own as--....butt then you can play paintball."

Ignore her?...

That was it. Standing in front of the bed, Gemma looked down at Hokee, folding her arms.

"Hokee, I would like a word with you, outside. Please."

Even though she said please, it was clearly not a request.

Damnit.

There she was again, and getting in his space now. So she wanted to talk, fine. She could talk all she wanted, but that didn't mean he had to listen to a damn word of what she said. With a dead stare, he looked up at her...why was he here again? Holding one end of the roll of gauze to the side of his head, he continued to stare right at her while wrapping the roll around his ears and forehead. Hey, why not use the stuff for the heck of it when he could.

The steal blue gaze continued until the last of the gauze was used up. Tucking the edge into the rest of the wrap, he finally swung his legs over the edge of the bed again. The gaze narrowed down until he was back at his normal squinted appearance. With both of his feet planted on the ground, Hokee wandered towards the door. She wanted to say something well, fine but he wasn't going to listen, he was not under any circumstance going to listen to her. Hopefully the gauze could fade out some of her talking, if not all.

A few strides down in the hall he stopped and turned around. If he was smarter, then he should have grabbed something else out of the infirmary to amuse himself. Shifting towards the wall, he let his body weight shift from his feet and more towards his back as he leaned. Back against the wall, he just had to wait her out. Hopefully she wouldn't talk long, the gauze felt weird over his ears. "Hm." Grunt question, there he did his end of the conversation.

Gemma sighed as she glanced back at Chase, hoping he would stay put until she returned with the clothes. DocProf was around, hopefully, somewhere, so she could at least trust him to keep the boy from sneaking out. Hopefully.

Closing the infirmary door behind her, she turned her attention to the bigger one of her problems. Hokee was leaning against the wall, giving her the angsty teenage eyes. Both of them. And a grunt that might have translated into something more sophisticated, like: "Whut?..."

"All right, listen" she said, looking at him; she was at least a bit pleased she was taller "You don't like me, I get that. You don't want to like me, I get that too. But I don't care how bad you think your life is right now, I would like to ask you not to take it out on Chase. Because, Hokee, you have no clue what that kid has been through, and if you want to keep going like this, that's your life and your choice. But if you do anything to mess with Chase, you are going to be out of here before you can apologize. Just to be clear."

She was not angry, not really. She knew Hokee was smart enough to understand. She was just not sure he was smart enough to get it.

"I am still grateful that you saved him. And I will keep my promise. But I don't want to feel the disappointment of judging you wrong as a person who would not hurt a kid like Chase."

There she was, at it again. She didn't have the slightest idea or clue what was really happening. Adults, they thought with age all the answers of the world came to them. Wake up society, it was anything but that. Taylor just didn't have eyes, that or she was to dumb to notice a damn thing. Maybe with being an adapt or whatever she called herself, she lacked the ability to understand the basic principals of life. She certainly didn't understand teens and there was no way on earth she'd ever be able to keep up with him.

Instead of looking at her while she talked, he just closed his eyes and contemplated on catching a quick nap. Certainly not a word she was saying was anything important and he wasn't going to give her the slightest bit of interest. She had to be the worse guidance counselor he ever knew, and that was saying something.

With his palms on the wall behind him, Hokee pulled one foot up and let the soles of his feet plant on the bricks. Leaning forward his eyes were open, more then normal. "I ain't done s*** to him. He fell in on his own." How many times would he have to tell her that? He sounded like a skipping CD, stuck on the same loop of words over and over again.

"Let the damn kid play paintball." His eyes narrowed down on her. She might have a bit of height on him, but he still had a few more years to grow. He was sure of one thing, he could bulk up on muscle mass quicker then she could. "He's one of the few kids here that doesn't look like a damn freak and he actually wants to do stuff." Kicking off the wall he moved right at her but turned slightly at the last second so the most damage he could do was check her shoulder against his own. "Take your head out of your *** and let him have at least some bit of normal life."

His body ran up to the opposite wall where he sprung off it like a trampoline. Making for the door he took a hold of the door knob. "I'm going to drive and he's going to play paintball." His voice lowered as his own threat was made. She could think all she wanted that he hated her, it didn't matter what she thought. He might be a good for nothing kid, but he had his eyes set on certain things, nothing was going to get in his way. Making sure his voice was plenty loud enough for the dead to hear, he rattled the door knob. "That's great Ms Taylor, I'm sure Chase will LOVE playing Paintball. Wait what, you might get him his own gun for Christmas? Wow, hope he likes the game." With a smirk he looked over at the mother. What now dog?

>>"I ain't done s*** to him. He fell in on his own."

He kept saying that. And Gemma kept believing him. That was not even the point. But he made sure he got it across anyway. Gemma nodded.

>>"Let the damn kid play paintball. He's one of the few kids here that doesn't look like a damn freak and he actually wants to do stuff. Take your head out of your *** and let him have at least some bit of normal life. I'm going to drive and he's going to play paintball."

"No one here looks like a freak." she said quietly "And I do not want to hear you saying that. And yes, I am working on him having a normal life, which includes a mother who keeps him away from trouble. "

Or, at least, tries to.

"As for driving. That depends on your attitude. If you are so insistent on me dealing with your permit, you are getting a car properly, or none at all."

>>"That's great Ms Taylor, I'm sure Chase will LOVE playing Paintball. Wait what, you might get him his own gun for Christmas? Wow, hope he likes the game."

Hokee was yelling. Gemma chuckled, and shook her head. She knew kids as well as any mother, and she knew Chase was not in the mood of doing anything with Hokee. And she knew he was smart enough to not get into trouble.

"Sure" she smiled, waving to Hokee "I'll see you around."

She walked past him down the hallway, to pick up some clothes for Chase.

Her voice, wait no the very words she said from her mouth were like nails running down a chalk board. She could think all she wanted that everything being done was the right thing, but it wasn't. The people in the mansion were freaks, all of them. Taylor had to be either blind or pure dumb to not notice how freakish some of the people looked here. There was the monkey girl for crying out loud. The tail was fun to pull but throw the little horns on there and that was just messed up. If she didn't want to hear about how people looked like freaks, well he'd find another way to get his point across.

She could run her mouth off as much as she wanted right now, but he'd win in the end. He was going to make sure of that. He certainly didn't care one hoot or another if he got a car properly or not. Illegal was the way to go right now, and all he really had to get was a car. Then just drive careful enough to avoid detection from the police. That was doable, hopefully. Once he found the right links and such, he was sure he could find someone to give him the false papers that he would need.

Keeping quiet was a hard task, but it was his best shot. If he just let her believe in the end she won today, then he could just get on back to his game plan and let her sulk later about how in the end he got the better end of the deal. Half tempted to just stay there still all day until something better happened, Hokee was rather excited upon the departure of her presence. He could do without the whole wave thing though.

Leaning back against the wall, he had to take the moment to rid his ears of the nagging voice. Trouble. Was she seriously trying to imply he was trouble? Taking a breath, he let some of his own hot air out as a muttered stream of obscenities rolled off his tongue. It just had to make sense, one of the few kids at school that seemed fairly normal, but more so his connection to his own hometown area, had the mother of all devils. Developing a plan in his head, Hokee's fist rolled out to the side to bang on the door. "Chase."