Price for Happiness (OPEN)

[casey]

How much could Casey get away with telling this overly bright Edengrowth? If Locke pushed too far in the direction he was heading, he might wind up stepping on the toes of someone higher up on the Academy food chain. Which certainly wouldn't be good for the kid's health. But this was the kind of ambition that was supposed to be encouraged among the students. How else were they supposed to build new minds if they weren't going to be encouraging students to think in new directions?

"You might want to dig around the Research Center," Casey finally offered. He'd dug both hands into his pockets and tried to look semi-interested in what Locke had to say as they'd ambled along. Not hard, considering that Casey actually was

"I think people have actually tried it," ventured Casey, pushing a little further. Too much and he'd get in trouble, and Casey didn't want that. "It pretty much comes down to stabilizing things."

Slight understatement, given what Casey had seen.

"I'm not really an inventor though. I just know how to use my Gift well, and I'm fairly bright," Casey shrugged. "No Edengrowth though."

[Locke F. Herald]

"In the Research Center?" Locke echoed. "Getting permission to go into there is no easy feet though, I mean I bet you can get in easy enough on your own, but records on experiments like that would probably be held in the classified vaults, where students can't access." Locke thought out loud.

"Yeah, all the useful information on that stuff has probably already been moved out of the general use and into closed areas to never be touched again. I'd have to have some real sway to get to see it, and they wouldn't let an 'emotionally upset child' near it." He added, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "So I guess that means I'll have to copy all of their research, mistakes and all, and find they way through myself. After all, they should thank me for succeeding where they failed."

Stabilization eh? Had their tests on this lead to explosions? Locke would have to look into that.

But still...those notes would be helpful...but breaking in was impossible, and wrong at the same time.

But for the pursuit of knowledge...and for a good end, it was ok, right? Maybe?

Trying to justify this was pointless and he knew it, he didn't have the ability to steal something from them anyway.

[casey]

For a few moments, Casey had a bit of an ethical dilemma. If anyone could get into the more secret sections of the center and get away with it, it was Casey. But he simply couldn't justify giving out something like that to a kid just because he needed to defend himself. Besides, it was probably better for the kid to figure it out on his own.

"Yeah, you're probably right," agreed Casey, nodding. "But it might be worth brushing up on Gift theory, which is definitely open. Probably could even access it through the Academy websites or something."

Albeit, those were restricted too, but to students and Academians only. Locke qualified as the first.

"Wouldn't call you emotionally upset though, makes you sound crazy," Casey commented offhand as they rounded a corner. They were close to where Casey figured his friend would be. He decided he'd better double check, and yanked a walkie-talkie out of his belt, squawking into it.

[Locke F. Herald]

"Please, to them any child is emotionally unstable at best, we're children, so to them we can't do anything right. It figures that adults would find a better way to discriminate then children do, since they can't do it by looks anymore."

He scowled and let Casey talk into his radio. He pondered to himself what the security on the center might be. Probably a pass code, those seemed to be 'in style'. They might do a fingerprint scanner, but with Shape Shifters those were too risky to rely on. Pass codes could be guessed, but they couldn't be gained easily unless someone slipped up and left one lying around. Or if they...

"Made it a significant number..." He muttered aloud. Many people used a special number for pass codes so they wouldn't forget them, it would seem possible that people here would be no different. All it would take is to find a series of important dates from a group of people on the access list and one of them should work. But that still left getting in and if that was indeed the defense mechanism on the vault. How could one get in? It was far too difficult to bypass the other means of security. But maybe if he could find a distraction.

"Like a war dragon..." He muttered again.

This was looking more and more possible every second he thought about it. And he wouldn't even need to steal anything, just to get a good look at the items. After all, looking was free, it wasn't like he was taking anything of theirs. Knowledge was supposed to be passed on to the younger generation, and that was him!

[casey]

Since Casey was wrapped up in his radio conversation, he didn't pay attention to Locke. Even if he'd heard the words, he probably would have done his best to ignore them. This clearly didn't involve him, and he certainly didn't want anything to be traced back to him. He already had his suspicions that Locke was planning something, and fervently hoped the kid didn't wind up over his head.

Casey continued walking down the halls, Locke following him*. Since the kid clearly had a lot on his mind, Casey let him think. They'd get interrupted sooner rather than later.

And interrupted they were. A boisterous middle aged woman finally rounded the hallway, scooping Casey up into a massive bear hug. The shapeshifter had to shift some organs around, hoping not to get squashed.

"Casey! You should call me more often!" she exclaimed, shaking the Agent a bit. When she finally let him go, Casey just smiled and shook his head.

"Alright," said the woman, rubbing her hands together," is this the Edengrowth youngster?"

She stepped forward, yanking Locke's hand to look at it. "Looks like a busted knuckle. What'd ya do, kid, punch a wall?"

She chuckled, shaking her head. One hand folded over the wound, and her Gift went into play, repairing the damage.

"Trixie, this is Locke. Locke, Trixie," Casey introduced, motioning to each when speaking.

"Nice ta meet you, Locke, love the ears."

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke winced as the very energetic women pulled on his hand, and then he felt the mending power in it, as the muscles and bones reconnected. That...was a very odd feeling. And then the man, Casey as she had called him, introduced them.

"It's nice to-"

Ears. Always the ears. He clammed up immediately and found something else to look at. There was no better way to shut Locke up then to mention his ears, and now he was very self conscious. Why did people always look at the damn ears? Was that all there was to it? Just ignore them why don't you? Try to talk to the person, not the appendages. Locke then said something he probably didn't mean, but he always got flustered when people mentioned the ears.

"Thanks for the help." He said pulling his hand back. "But you don't like people staring at and complementing your chest I'd imagine, so return the favor." He couldn't exactly remove the rudeness from his voice.

Such a sensitive boy.

[casey]

Casey moaned, the kid would have to...

"Oh, actually, I do like it when people stare at and compliment my chest," the woman began to feel said portion of her anatomy, weighing them in her palms. "They're quite impressive, aren't they? Nice side effect of the whole healing thingy is that they stay nice and per--"

"Okay," interrupted Casey holding up a hand, "that's enough Trixie."

"Fine, he started it, but those ears!" she stepped forward, giving them both a little tug and smiling broadly. This was immediately followed by pinching Locke's cheeks.

Suddenly Casey was regretting finding Trixie, of all people. But she'd been available, and was one of the best healers in the entire Academy.

Casey mouthed "I'm sorry" to Locke, wincing as his eyes darted to Trixie. At least she'd actually healed the kid first, sometimes...

[Locke F. Herald]

And now she'd done it. "Gragh! Get off me you little Wingrosian, brainless twit!" He shouted, swatting his hands around to get her to let go of his ears. He HATED people yanking on his ears. HATED it with a passion.

He practically slapped her hands away from him and didn't regret a second of it, he'd probably have minded the broken knuckles less then this crap. "Grrr. And people wonder why kids don't respect their elders. Screw this. Thanks for the advise..Casey." He spat out, with more venom then he intended. He was pissed now, and angry people tend not to think rationally.

On the other hand, anger is a good motivator. He stomped away from the couple muttering to himself, he'd get her back for that one, he'd make sure of it. She'd get what was coming to her for...wait a minute. His expression of anger changed as he was walking away, turning into a devilish grin.

He could achieve his goal AND get back at her in the same motion. Oh how cunning, this would certainly be worth trying now.

All thanks to a little bullying.

Well, necessity IS the mother of invention.

[casey]

"See you around, kid!" Trixie called, waving.

Casey groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Leave it to Trixie to further alienate the poor kid. At least she'd done it by being overaffectionate, and she could certainly handle herself. Casey just hoped that Locke didn't plan some elaborate revenge on Trixie for her actions. Then again, she had healed him.

"I think you scared him away," murmured Casey, looking up in the direction Locke had just gone.

"Poor little guy. Probably doesn't like his ears being touched," she guessed, nodding. Her own gaze went in the direction Locke had traveled, and concern warped her smile.

"You're a horrible influence, Trixie."

"Yup," Trixie turned her beaming smile on Casey, slapping him on the shoulder, "see you around Case."

"Right, I've got a mission to do anyway," agreed the shapeshifter. He nodded and headed toward the entrance, thoughts of his mission pushing aside thoughts of the poor kid.