nyc prep continued

"It's..." Brooklynn paused, trying to collect the right words. "It's depressing, but also really hopeful. Because even if you aren't appreciated, things could change once people start looking differently. And he probably never imagined how celebrated his work would be, so while he died, penniless, depressed, and insane, he still influenced so many people."

Jaimie laughed. "You wouldn't have me any other way!" she replied.She liked this.

Paige was silent for a few minutes, thinking. "Our math teacher's car." She said finally. "He needs a good laugh."

"Couldn't agree more," Jarid laughed as the game started up and they were thrown into a first person shooter game.

Paige started to relax as they played and let her anger at her father flow out of her. She never relized how relaxing a shooter game could be.

Carl took a deep breath, " that is...hopeful." he said almost sadly. Maybe he could make a difference, maybe his work would be noticed some day.

He laughed tiling his eyes," I'm the only one who would put up with you."

"It is, in a very sad way," Brooklynn agreed. After a minute or two of silence, she turned back to him. "So what do you think genius?"

"You're not that charming yourself, jerk," she replied, kicking one of her feet and splashing him again.

After a few minutes of intense play, Jarid sat back. "Not bad for not playing in a while," he grinned, observing the very close score.

Paige grinned back. "That was awesome. Can we play again?"

What did he think? He thought that maybe his life wasnt as impressive as he had always thought. Maybe his parents wetr misguided and then was he? What about all the work he had put into being...well genius?
"not sure." He sighed looking down at his hands, "defeated."

He laughed grabbing her ankles keeping her legs down so she couldn't splash him. Suddenly reality it. What was he doing?

"Sure," JArid shrugged, restarting the game.

"Don't feel defeated," Brooklynn bumped him with her shoulder. "That's not what I wanted to happen." she gave him a small smile. "Come on, don't feel that way."

Jaimie smiled and leaned down, running a gentle hand through his hair.This was so familiar, but also so different than how they had been before. She liked this a lot.

"We'll have to figure out how to get the car." Paige said as they played. "And we'll have to wear gloves."

Carl looked at her half forcing his smile, "this is great...what next?" He asked pushingvhis glasses back

Braden closed his eyes involuntary at her touch. His heart skipped a little. He needed to run. he needed to run far and fast

"Doable. If we get into his room when he's not there, I'm pretty sure he keeps his keys in his top drawer." Jarid replied. "It'll have to be when there is no one around"

"Well we can stay here, look around some more or we can go somewhere else. It's a nice day, we could go to Central Park or just walk around." She shrugged. There were a lot of options. But she was concerned. She didn't mean to make him feel bad.

With his eyes closed, she could lean down and very quietly, take a large handful of water, dropping it over his head.

Braden had inhaled just as the water came over his head and face. He caughed for a second. As soon as the water was expelled from his breathing way he got out of the pool and started toweling off. With his back to her he could get a handle on himself without her seeing. He was glad she had given him a reason to snap out of it.

Carl thought for a moment, "central park sounds really nice."

Jaimie turned, watching him. Now she got a good look at his tattoo.

"Okay." She stood from the bench, taking his hand. "How long till you have to go home?"

The tattoo had a few layers the first starting about 1/3 of the way down his back. It looked like someone had jammed a roughly fashioned rusty date plaque into his spine. The plaque was about 3 inches long and about an inch and a half in height and stuck out to the right of his back a bit. The wound around it was open and from it blood was seeping out down the plaque and back. The blood was dripping down and around the same kind of plaques that looked like they had been thoughtlessly screwed into his back on either side of his spine. The plaques were tapered left to right as they went down almost to the small of his back. Each plaque had a word like Anger, Revenge, Hatred, Destruction, Pain, Brokenness. Then at the base of his back there was a pool forming where the blood had been gathering. There was one droplet that had hit the pool just right to create a distinct splash and in the splash if you looked closely(She would not be able to quite make that out.) the word forgiveness could be seen. To the left of the pool there was a little pile of gray dust, ash, with one vividly yellow and red plume feather laying next to it. Above all of this there was a Phoenix. Its wings were stretched out almost spanning the width of Braden's shoulders. It was orange and fire red with yellow and brilliant blue accents. Its tail wrapped to the left side of his back and back through the plaques hanging there. The craftsmanship of the bird and the entire tattoo brought the word detail into a whole new light. But that wasn't quite the end of it. In the tip feathers of the wings the words worked into the grain of the feathers that you had too look at closely to see. Inter-dispersed through the wing and tail feathers there were other words but again proximity was the key to seeing them.


"I wasn't given a specific time," Carl said with a little shrug, " you sure you are ok with leaving. I now you said you could spend all day here." he said quoting her from the other day

Jaimie stood silently and walked a little closer, all of her focus on the tattoo. It was so... intricate... she didn't know what to make of it.

"It's fine," she smiled assuringly. "I live in New York now, I can go any time I want."

Braden heard her stand up and move and realized what was going on. he let the towel drup around hsi shoulders covering the tattoo and turned around, " ready to go inside?" he asked as if there was nothing to see

ooc: what do you think so far of it or would you have to "see" the whole thing?

Carl nodded and headed for the exit. great he had ruined her day. that was just...perfect

ooc: so far it sounds like a very intense tattoo... like, a loooooooooooot of time/work/emotions/thought went into it.

ic: "Yeah," Jaimie nodded. "You think I could get a towel?" she asked, gesturing to her still wet dress.

As they walked out of the museum, Brooklynn pulled him to a stop. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad in there. Just cause... just cause art is what I am really passionate about, that doesn't mean other things aren't great as well. I mean, you're smarter than anything and you could do anything you wanted, given the chance. And... and you could really make an influence anywhere you wanted."

ooc: perfect. because that's exactly what happened.

Braden nodded, " let me go get you a dry one." he said and made as good time as he could going to get another towel. he stopped in his bedroom first and slipped on a t-shirt.

This made Carl smile for real but it was a sad sort of smile, " thanks and I'm not...whatever this is because...its hard to explain." he loved sharing in her passion, doing something completely different than he was used to. he so enjoyed it and he felt like he had ruined that

Once he got back, she wrapped the towel around her, feeling the change is atmosphere. She didn't like it much. "It's very impressive," she gestured to his back, unsure of what else to say.

She noticed the sadness in the smile, but was unsure of what to say. "Let's go to the park, yeah?"

Braden nodded, " uhm...thanks. it took a long time." how much had she seen? why was he so scared to show her? he didn't know

Carl nodded. he pulled out his phone and called Lloyd.

"I'm sure," she nodded. "Uhm, i should probably get back to Sasha. She's probably really bored by now."

Once Llyod had arrived, they slid into the back of the car. Brooklynn was still feeling awkward. She was afraid she's said something to upset him. Btu she didn't know how to fix it.

"Oh right," Braden nodded, " I uhm..." he wanted to offer her to stay but, " do you want something else to wear?" she had his mom looked like the same size.


Carl didn't say anything as they drove, he didn't want to make the day any worse than he had already

Paige nodded, "that does sound doable. At lunch the office is empty."




Sam nodded, smiling. "I like that idea. What time? I'll have to change." She looked down at her yoga pants and t shirt. "I don't think any club would let me in looking like this," she joked.

"No, I think I'll be fine," she brushed him off and handed him back the towel. She wasn't good with awkward situations.

Once the car had stopped, she slid out of the car, thanked Lloyd and turned to Carl. "What would you normally be doing today? Studying?"

"Yeah, most people go out for lunch and he'll probably be in the teacher's lounge." Jarid agreed.

"Come on Jaime." this wasn't what he wanted. in fact he had no idea what he wanted when it came to her. well actually he knew what he wanted but he wasn't sure that was a good desire at all, "let me get you something dry for the ride home."

carl feigned surprise, " why how ever did you guess."

"Really Bray, I'll be fine," she replied. "It's just a couple minutes by taxi."

Brooklynn laughed. "I'm a bit observant, in case you've noticed."

he sighed, "right...ok..." it had been fun till now

Carl chuckled, " I have noticed. so what now?"

"So we get the keys while he's at lunch, but we'll need some type of distraction so we can get the car." Paige said, thinking out loud.

Jeff had to chuckle at that," aw come on. who wouldn't want to go to a club in sweatpants and a hail to the force." he joked referring to her shirt

Sam grinned, "well if you don't care...maybe I will go like this. I might get some free drinks out of it, you know, the power of the force and all."

he would love to see her go out like that just for kicks...but he figured she never would, " well I have a few more hours of work here then we can go out wherever

"Kay, sounds good. I still have a few things I need to do today." She stood up. "Can you pick me up or do you want me to get you?"

"you know all I have is my Motorcycle. I'll come get you but not sure you want me to." he grinned

"She'd like to see you," Jaimie added slowly. "So if you have some free time later, I'm sure she'd enjoy your company."

"Now we walk around and make conversation if we have to. Or just enjoy the surroundings. You know, park stuff." Brooklynn shrugged, grinning as a group of kids ran past, yelling.

"So we'll need another prank perhaps... pull everyone back into the auditorium while we grab the car," Jarid offered.

Paige nodded, "what about setting the clocks in the cafeteria and the teachers lounge back by a few minutes. That way everyone would be there longer."

"Do you enjoy my company?" he asked before he thought about the question. he was all messed up. one week back at school and...he took a deep breath.

ooc: is he irritating you yet...he is kind of irritating me

carl watched them then got a gleam in his eyes. reaching out he tapped her shoulder and took off running, " your it!"

"That would work," Jarid agreed.

"Do you think I would have come over to return a shirt if I didn't want to see you?" Jaimie asked, raising a single eyebrow.

ooc: ... it's complicated. he's not irritating me, it's just hard to tell what he's going to do next.

Brooklynn's jaw dropped, but she quickly took off after him, laughing as she tried to tag him back.

He shifted his feet not taking his eyes off of her, "i guess that makes sense." It would be so much easier if she was cold and mean but she wasn't. She was bright and honestly seemed loving in her own way

Tag was fun but exhausting ad Brooklyn reached out to tag him he ducked and the motion threw him off balance and careening into the grass

"I could sneak into the school Sunday night and change the clocks," Paigesaid. "It shouldn't be to hard."