Heroes of Silvatica City

Huh, it was a shame to hear that Golem spoke ill of Will. He and Caoimhe only had guarded praise for the big guy. Caoimhe shook her head in disappointment upon hearing that. Meanwhile the girl reached out to her brother, but was obviously blocked by the thick layer of glass between them.

Huh, so the kid was honour-bound? Unlike his father who did whatever he wanted in a total berserker manner. Caoimhe was a little reluctant to let the kid be free but if she'd put him down once, she could easily do it again. The little girl tottered towards her brother and sat down in front of him, smiling up at him and burbling in baby language. Outside, SHADE had detected an incoming ship with a familiar pilot. It appeared Jr's parents had arrived. They allowed them to land without contesting them.

His sister burbled at him some more, and then when it was time to move, she went back and demanded Will carry her again. She really did feel a connection with him, after all she was particularly fond of her actual father. She wasn't the one who was going to get Jr in a lot of trouble, that would be Jr himself. They escorted him out of SHADE, the adolescents who had stood against him first watching him as he went. They certainly wouldn't miss him, particularly those who'd been more heavily wounded. Tarana had come round and was slouched in a wheelchair, watching Jr with an expressionless gaze. Will and Caoimhe walked either side of Jr as they went up to his parents' ship.

Moira also looked pretty pissed off too, and she charged down the ramp of the ship towards Jr. Except she walked right past him towards Caoimhe and Will, who was holding her daughter. "Thank you for taking care of her," she said gruffly, in a way that sounded like she was angry at them but trying to be mature. After all, she had no reason to be mad at Will and Caoimhe, but was just mad in general. The little girl started whimpering and clung to Will more tightly, but then Moira grabbed her and that was that. "Don't scare your mother like that, Kiki!" Moira snapped. Caoimhe perked up at hearing the girl's name, and looked past Moira at Golem. What was with that?

Golem had looked knowing, but it was actually Moira's idea to name their youngest child Kiki - mostly because she was much smaller and wimpier than their other children, so it reminded them both of Caoimhe. That being said, Caoimhe wasn't so wimpy anymore. Caoimhe folded her arms and raised her eyebrow at Golem, smiling playfully. "Course," she said. "Who else is gonna protect this place from big guys like you?" "You took him down?" Moira asked, only partly disbelieving it. Caoimhe shrugged and grinned. "Speakin' of which, he's had enough of a beatin' already. Go easy on him," she said, to which Moira blew a raspberry. Still soft as ever.

"Uh, wai-... Huh," Caoimhe sighed. She had wanted to introduce Golem to their son, he might recognise him from Will's subconscious. But Golem was just as blunt as ever and didn't even want to stay for tea. Caoimhe couldn't help but be very disappointed by that. Little Kiki waved goodbye at them from all the way up high before they blasted away in their ship. And that was that. Milo didn't even get to meet his 'uncle'.

And so, more time passed. The city didn't have to recover much from this attack so life was back to normal by the end of the week, after the damaged road had been repaired. Jin's wounds healed within the month, without leaving scars thankfully, but Tarana was a little more affected by back aches after being squeezed like an orange by Jr. They weren't crippling, but later in life they'd be much worse. For now, she just moved a little more slowly. She had been down since then and had made excuses to not hang out with the group as much - they thought it was because she'd been embarrassed by her powers but it was actually because of Alistar's comments. To try to cheer her up, Jin had a little surprise for her. When they were hanging out at lunch that day, Tarana awkwardly perched at the end of the table, Jin produced a piece of paper from her backpack. "Sooo, our uncle works for the music industry right?" she said to the group. "He got us a bunch of tickets tooooo... Summerfest!" There was a chorus of cheers at that - Summerfest was one of the biggest music festivals around and was also relatively clean and safe compared to other festivals. This was a big treat.

Sakura clapped and made her head shake with an excited, silent squeal. Ooh she would love to go to her first music festival! Like both of her parents, she was a huge music lover. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" Olivia was also super pumped, and had wrapped her arms around the people either side of her to jump up and down in their seats - that being her brother and her cousin. From the end of the table, Tarana perked up slightly, but Lloyd shrank down into her seat. "Yeah, it's in like two weeks," Jin was saying, showing them the date on the sheet of paper. "He gave us like 20 tickets so any leftovers I can just give away to whoever." "Our parents know a guy who likes camping," Cha continued. "Says we can use his camper-van to get there and camp out with his gear."

"Yeah, t-shirts, glow sticks, we gotta get everything!" Jin said, mirroring DJ's thoughts. "Ooh, and body glitter. Even for the boys." She gave them a sly look, imagining all the tall boys at the table being coated in girly glitter. It was a funny thought and she would soon make it reality! "W-we... We should get matching t-shirts," Tarana piped up. "For like a group thing?" Cha looked thoughtful. "Heh, that'd be a cute idea actually. Imagine Jin wearing the same tee as Drago," she added with a scoff. Lloyd pursed her lips together and shook her head slightly. This was the first time she had felt too shy to speak up about something.

"Will there be drinking at this thing?" Amber asked suddenly, her first contribution to this conversation. She was super pumped, especially because it was free, but she'd had this nagging worry in her mind about something. Jin's excitement faltered slightly at Amber's revelation. "Well, yeah, but we're not gonna do that," she said in a more subdued tone. Cha got the hint. "It's alright," she said to them all. "We're all gonna keep an eye on each other okay? No drinking, no accepting anything from strangers, and always stay in groups." "Yeah, we'll be fine," Olivia agreed, linking arms with Lola and DJ and grinning. Tarana heard Chloe and Lloy's conversation and turned to them. "It's okay," she whispered. "If you two don't want to go, we understand."

Lloyd shifted slightly, clearly uncomfortable, but then turned to look at the others. "I'm afraid I cannot come," she announced. "Aww, ya busy that day?" Jin asked. "No... I do not like loud and busy places, and I am not much interested in music. I... Enjoy spending time with you all, but I do not want to be miserable. It would also make the experience less fun for the rest of you... I am sorry." "Oh, it's okay boo," Olivia said, reaching across and patting the table in front of Lloyd. "We get it, not everyone likes that kinda thing."

It seemed they were all in agreement, though the only one who hadn't really reacted was Alistar. Tarana looked at him curiously. "Oh, I know, we can Facetime you while we're there!" Jin offered, clapping her hands together. "Like when we're camping, round the fire eating smores, that sorta thing, so you two don't feel left out!" Lloyd looked at Chloe, then back at Jin. "I would like that."

And so, they prepared for the festival alongside their studies and extracurriculars. They decided instead of getting matching t-shirts that they'd get matching bandannas, bright yellow ones that they could use to locate one another through the crowd due to their bright colour. Lloyd and Chloe got their own, so that they felt included. Lloyd wore hers proudly around her wrist from the day they got them, which was super adorable. The morning before the event, they all trekked to Jin and Cha's place, where the camper van had been packed up ready to go. It was big enough for them all to sit in but not to sleep, so they'd packed several large tents to accommodate them all. The camper had a fridge so they were able to pack enough food for several days, including breakfast once they got going. Lloyd and Chloe came to see them off. "It is a 12 hour drive, including three pit stops along the way," Lloyd told them. "You should drive there in shifts." "I'll take first shift," Jin said, as she was the most wide awake of all of them at this early hour. "Hope none of you get carsick," Cha joked, earning a dig in the ribs from her sister. "Alright, everyone, let's go go go!" Jin started pushing all her sleepy friends into the van. Her parents and their friends who weren't coming waved as they were on their way!

[I have an idea for Aaliyah Daniel fluff if you'll allow?]