Grace had softly set Maddie down, and then joined Nick on the landing pad a moment later.

She'd hesitated though, watching as Wren hurried happily inside to make snacks for everyone, and said shyly, "Uhm... Nick? Could I maybe... Could I maybe just talk to you for a minute before we go in? I had some thoughts, but I don't know if it's alright to ask a question--" She scuffed her foot shyly, the wind up here pushing her ponytail around.

Grace is a bit redfaced, but she laughs a little at Maddie's enthusiasm. She turns and rests her forearms on the railing, wings spread just a little, letting the wind ruffle through the long flight feathers. First, and potentially the most embarrassing question, first.

"Well, first... I was just curious... why does Maddie call me 'Little Dove'?"

Nick laughs, rubbing the back of his neck, blushing furiously. He starts off speaking slowly, but as his embarrassment intensifies, so does his rapidity of speech. "Uhm...yeah, I have to admit, that's partially my fault...See, she was asking all these questions, you know how she is, and I was doing my best to answer them all, and I may have accidentally made the comparison of you to a dove, and she decided to use it as a nickname, because she likes nicknames, you know, and I had told her to use your real name, and she did, for a little while, but then she said that, and it's really hard to get her to change her mind, and--" Nick catches himself, taking a deep breath.

"Sorry. I'm a, uhm, nervous speaker." He blushes even redder, smiling at his own ridiculousness. "But if you don't like the name, I'll get her to call you your /actual/ name, instead."

Inside, at the mention of her getting to choose, Maddie jumps up and searches through the treasure trove of movies. She sits cross-legged on the floor, systematically going through the movies, making sure to safely set aside Lion King to be put in the final pick of movies. She mutters to herself as she searches, quickly acquiring large stacks of movies beside her, seemingly at random. In reality, she has one stack of movies arranged by date published, another alphabetically, another by the narrator's middle initial, et cetera. She looks to be having much fun

Nick coughs awkwardly, his shoes becoming more and more interesting to stare at. He decides to divide and conquer. He takes a breath for courage, and answers the first question, "Well, she had asked what you were like, because I had told her a little about you, and stuff, you know, so...I told her you were like a dove." He cleared his throat, feeling like his face was about the color of a fire hydrant.

"And yes, it's a good thing. The name, that is. Because names are important." After his voice tapers off, he quietly adds, "I think it kinda suits you."

He quickly begins speaking again, not truly allowing Grace any time to respond to the comment, "And you can pick a name for me, if you want. It only seems fair."

Nick is surprised by her sudden outburst and hug, not quite used to it, but at her outpouring of laughter he begins to crack a smile himself.

At her suggestion of a nickname, he looks thoughtful, and grins and says, "That could work. I can totally rock a red costume. I may have to dye my hair green, though, to complete the image." He strikes a dramatic pose, speaking in an exaggerated voice, "The Amazing Tomato yet again saves the day, blinding his evil nemesis, The Eggplant of Doom, with his outstanding control of skin pigment." He smiles a little, shouldering Grace, "You might make a good sidekick, Tomato Lass."

Maddie squeals excitedly, finally finding a movie to watch. "Miss Songbird, may we watch this one?" She says, holding it out, letting Wren see the title. It was one of the Transformers movies. Predictable.

"Or maybe this one? Lions are not kittens, but baby lions are close enough, as domestic kittens are their descendants." She holds up Lion King.

"Or maybe one of these?" She picks up a small stack of movies, all seemingly unrelated, and hands them to Wren. "Songbird can choose, it is her collection. Or we can vote."

She skips happily out to the landing pad. "Maaaaaster Riiiiidleeeeey!! Why are you still outside? Little Dove, why are you still outside? Come in so you can possibly partake in a democratic majority vote!"

Grace dissolved again, palming her face and sniffing wetly, UNgracefully. She smiled at Maddie, and rubbed the back of her neck as Wren dragged the loveable bot back inside again.

"Actually..." Grace said to Nick with a shy smile again, "...That's sort of what I wanted to, uhm... suggest, maybe?" She continues to scrub the back of her neck softly, considering Nick with very thoughtful eyes.

"I know it bugs you," she said softly, with some weight of feeling, "--not to be 'super' or 'meta', or whatever it is they call me and Wren..." She fidgetted a little, but finally out and said it.

"Nick, you're really smart, and I said before that's a really cool thing. So... if you really want to be [i]in[/i] the fights and things-- why don't you start making yourself a suit of armor or something?" It seems she feels this may be presumptuous of her to say, but she carries on as boldly as she can, posing the question, "I mean... why couldn't you? You could make something that fits you, and gave you some kind of protection and the ability to fight people if you wanted to and not just let Maddie and Levi protect you..." She hesitated, then said shyly, "...And maybe you could make yourself some wings?"

She tucked her own self-consciously to her back, hurrying onward, "I mean... I'd let you study mine if you wanted to, to see how they work-- I don't really even know that, myself, but if you could find out, you could make some of your own, like, out of metal or something..."

After a pause, she said somewhat meekly, "...It's something to think about, anyway. And I know you think a lot."

Grace smiled, absolute clarity and sincerity in her face. She nodded firmly once, saying, "Of course you can! If YOU think you can! I mean, I wouldn't know how to do anything like that... but hey, your super power is being smart, right?"

Her eyes are absolutely alight with happiness. She gropes for his hand, catches it, and holds it in both of hers, squeezing, looking for his eyes. "Nick--"

She smiled encouragingly, with some strong emotion. "Nick, you deserve to be happy, you know? You don't have to be sad about your dad forever. I'm sure he's proud of you already--" She flicked a glance skyward, then looked back at her friend, squeezing his hand again.

"If flying makes you happy, and protecting people makes you happy-- why shouldn't you be able to do those things? I'll help you, if I can and if you want me to... but--"

She shifted her grip to Nick's wrist and started to tug him inside, her happiness almost rivaling Wren's never-ending joy. "-- I thought we were here to unwind! Maddie-- which movie did you pick?"

Nick accepted Grace's gifts, eagerly munching on a few of the graham crackers. He gingerly leans upon her wing, not wanting to accidentally hurt Grace, but finds it quite comfortable.

At Grace's reaction, he elbows her gently in the side, gesturing towards the movie with a cracker. "Just you wait 'til we get to the rest of the Disney movies."

When Grace does not wince or complain about him leaning into her wing, Nick leans in a more relaxed way, finding a comfortable position. He noticed the smell of Grace's wings--not unpleasant, but different.

Nick is only half paying attention to the movie, his mind hard at work creating a new identity. One that could help people. One that could be more than he was. Maybe Ron was right. He could be like Batman. But with wings. The thought made him grin a little.

Maddie is absolutely enthralled by the movie, being completely still. If Wren, Grace, or Nick were to touch or attempt to move her, they would receive no response. Her joints won't even bend. The only thing that could halt her trance would be to break her line of sight completely.

Grace nestles her wing against Wren's, a two-winged cushion now for Nick to lean against-- a visual, tangible support from his friends. She pondered for a moment, her attention split, halfway paying attention to the movie, and halfway to whatever she'd meant by mentioning her brother.

"...He ran away from home a few years ago. Nobody knows where he is, but-- I think about him all the time, you know, hoping he's okay..." Her voice was soft, trying not to overpower the dialogue and music from the TV.

She flicked a sideways glance at her friends and managed a shy smile. "Sorry-- I dunno what made me say that. ...Maybe I'm just-- just happy to feel like I have some family again, y'know?" Grace's face went slightly pink at the admission, and she looked quickly back at the TV. She'd really only just met these people... but it felt good, made her feel a little better to say it, anyway.

Nick smiles. Family was something he'd been missing for long, long time. Sure, he had his mother, and he visited her often, and they were really close, he just...needed other people he could trust. Actual friends. He'd been alone most of his life. And let's face it, he wasn't great with people, but two close friends like these...they were enough.

Nick nods at Grace's statement. "We better get ready before the movie ends..." Nick pokes Maddie withe one foot, but she is unresponsive. "She'l he ready to burn some energy once it's over."

Grace, left alone with Nick for awhile, is comfortable ... but obviously a bit shy. She cups her wing around Nick's shoulder a bit, snd peers interestedly around him at the sound of Wren rummaging around in another room.

"Do you think pillows ought to make that much noise?" She whispers, then blinks with surprise as Wren drags a blanket full of... something she can't quite see, and starts to arrangevthings on the table. "... why am I whispering?"

Grace looked down at Maddie then. The movie was just about at the end credits, and the winged girl is very suspicious of Maddie's stillness-- expecting her to jump up at any moment, energetic as ever.

Grace grinned back and, as she wiggled her wing free from behind Nick gently, said, "I don't think /pillows/ are that lumpy!"

She finally extricated herself and moved carefully toward the cloth-covered table, mincing just as carefully over Maddie. "Wreeeen," she said with a combination of merriment and mock suspicion. "That's not just pillows is it? ...We're not going to engage in medieval gladatorial combat are we?"

As the credits finish on the screen, and the very last piece of text rolls off, Maddie immediately jumps up, emitting an ear-shattering squeal. She then runs around excitedly, not taking notice of the blanket and its contents. If Grace and Wren thought she was excited before, they were in for a long night. "OHEMGEE I LOVE LION KING WHEN HE WAS A BABY HE WAS SOOOO CUTE AND HE LOOKED JUST LIKED A KITTEN!!~"

She then tackles Nick, sending him onto the floor, and says, "MasterRidleyMasterRidleyMasterRidleyMasterRidleeeeeeeey! May we buy that movie pleasepleasepleaseplease? I wanna watch it overandoverandoverandover!!~ Can we, can we?" She then notices the other two girls, and jumps up and runs over, giving Grace a quick but vice-like hug and then Wren the same. "Songbird, thank you for allowing me to watched that wonderful cinematic it was wonderful. Little Dove! Did you like the movie? I liked the movie, it was nice. Did you see Mufasa and Scar and all the lions? They were all like 'Roar!'" Maddie runs back to Nick, tackling him back to the ground as he was halfway stood up.

"Master Ridley, can we initiate pillow combat soon?"

"Yes, Maddie, but--"

"Whenwhenwhenwhenwhenwhenwhen!?!?"

"Maddie, as soon as you got off of me, we can, but--"

"YAAAAAAY!!" She immediately jumps off of him and runs over to Wren again. "When can I hit people with pillows?"

Grace had been so shocked by all the things on the table that she takes the pillow directly to the chest, and out of instinct wraps her arms around it with a "Ooomf!' She stumbles backwards a few steps, laughing, and getting the legs of her jeans shot by Wren's water pistol.

Unable to get at Wren, she gets a good grip on one end of her pillow and hops backward a few more steps out of water pistol range, and spies Nick. She tucks her wings to her back and darts toward him, hoping to smack him right on the backside as he lunges over the counter for a 'weapon'.

Nick's dive is unsuccessful, stopping midway over the counter, friction his enemy. He is promptly hit by Grace's attack. "Ooomph!"

Maddie is mystified by Wren's ability to juggle, silently watching for a moment. She hops down off the table, saying excitedly, springing up and down, "Ooooooh ooh ooh ooh can I try?"

Grace watches Maddie with a tilted head, softly sloping wings, and the pillow dangling half-forgotten from her hands for a moment. She doesn't think she has the coordination to try that sort of thing...

For a few moments, she contemplated smacking Maddie with the pillow in a surprise attack-- but it seems like Maddie and Wren are innocent targets, and probably wouldn't appreciate being beaten up just then. Her eyes narrow contemplatively at Nick, with his own pillow now well in hand...

Maddie tries this part of the act, she imitates it almost exactly, but she can probably only handle a minimum amount of balls for now. She giggles with glee, trying not to hop up and down for fear of dopping any of the balls.

Nick also watches Wren and the little bot, but soon notices Grace's look. He gets into a fighting position, holding the pillow at the ready. He says with a grin, "Bring it."

Grace allows the hit, but it's obvious that she had-- she'd had ample time to get out of the way or 'counterattack'.

Brimming with energy from their rest, she quirks an amused eyebrow at Nick, and moves to dart past him, wings tucked tightly to her back, aiming a swing for his back-- though with less force. She didn't want him falling on his face!

But-- she pull the hit at the last moment, stopping a step or two behind him and whirling around, having heard a remark about a temporary alliance. "Hey! That's not fair! Maddie's gonna win anyway! Nick-- we're totally allies, then, if they are, right?" She looks hopefully at Nick.

Maddie giggles mischievously, grabbing a pillow for each hand. She lowers her stance into what resembles a crouched martial artist, holding the pillows like deadly weapons. She would win. She always won.

Nick prepares himself for a hit that did not come, and turns, listening to Grace's suggestion. "Definitely. We wouldn't stand a chance otherwise. We're facing a gymnast and juggler." Nick readies himself, prepared to dodge, throw, or swing, depending on the impending attack. He looks to Grace, "Back to back?"

Maddie jumps, like a cat pouncing, and does three front flips, landing in front of Nick, smacking him directly in the chest with a firm hit. There is a resounding thud and an "Oomph."

He immediately attempts to go for a headshot, but she ducks, and swings at one knee, hitting at just the right angle to make his leg bend, and then hits him across the head. He laughs, and swings at her midsection, and she cartwheels back, getting into another pillow-fighting stance, ready to strike. She giggles slightly, but for the most part is intensely focused on the job at hand.

Grace is triumphant-- for about two seconds. Her face changes expression just as rapidly and she squeals and goes down on one knee.

"Oof! I'm hit!"

Feeling Nick go down a bit behind her, she spreads her wings to at least shield him from Wren's view, making it clear she won't let Wren get to him while he's down! Her hands swing in an arc to try to hit Wren in the head where she'd fallen on the floor.

((Sorry, I kept thinking, 'Oh, I'll post on the flight training thread riiiiight after this.' Never did. Here now!!))

As Nick attempts to dodge the socked foot aiming for him, Maddie swipes his feet out from under him with an expert swing. He trips, landing on his back, and he quickly curls into a ball and block his face as best he can, knowing what was coming next.

A barrage of hits rains down from Maddie from all directions, and Nick is nearly defenseless, "I'm pegged down, Grace! C'mon, you got this!"

Maddie giggles, "No one escapes the wrath of MIGHTY MADDELINE!"

She continues to keep Nick from escaping his position.

Grace screeches with laughter and kicks her feet, but doesn't accidentally want to kick Wren in the head, so is cruelly submitted to relentless feet tickling. She manages to jerk her feet up to her chest out of reach just as a pillow goes sailing by at speed toward Wren's head, and another aimed a bit lower.

Grace is immobile for two or three gasping breaths, before rolling onto her stomach and scrambling to the table for a water pistol and a can of silly string, tossing the water pistol to Nick. "Here!" She calls to him, her eyes bright with energy, a huge smile on her face and her hair having come loose and beginning to go a bit wild, wings mantled slightly behind her.

Maddie dives behind furniture to dodge the incoming fire, hating to get the stuff out of her wiring and joints, but Nick isn't so lucky. He had just begun to stand when he was covered in string, and he attempts to block it with a pillow, eventually throwing it at Wren blindly, most likely missing her entirely.

Grace squeals as she's now not only covered in silly string but getting soaked. She hops sideways, out of Nick's line of fire, and snatches up the pillow at Wren's feet, attempting to wallop her hard enough with it that she'll stumble backward.

"I'll never--augk!" She cops a water pistol shot to the face on accident but shakes it off, laughing and swings multiple times for Wren, resuming, "--I'll never surrender!"