just a young gun with a quick fuse [open]

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There was yet another installment being added to Hallie's adventures in Diagon Alley. She was beginning to think that her parents were just stupid, with the amount of times she had escaped her house without notice. But Hallie was still looking for new things to do - or rather, new people to annoy. Hallie had decided that she was going to start looking for a sidekick. Every good superhero needed a sidekick, after all, and Hallie needed to start looking for candidates. She expected that not many of her schoolmates would be interested in being her sidekick - at least not the ones from her house. Gryffindors didn't seem to like being sidekicks much, which sucked, because Hallie had needed one basically since first year. She didn't know why sidekick auditions hadn't crossed her mind before. The thing was, people didn't seem to respond well to blunt honestly, and if she told them that she was a hero looking for a sidekick, everyone would just think she was crazy. The alternative was scoping out potential takers, which meant surveying Diagon Alley. Hallie was not much good at focusing, though - reading comics was the only thing she could really pay attention to for longer than a few minutes - so trying to people watch... wasn't working. Ugh.

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Jace loved Diagon Alley. Granted, that was the only place his parents let him go on his own here in England, but he enjoyed going there all the same. In fact, he spent most of his days there, trying to meet new people. He ran into a pretty, fun girl there a while ago, as well as exploring it with Brooke and Indie. Jace was determined to make as many friends as he could, which was one reason he was wandering around the alley today. He didn't really need to look into any of the shops anymore, since he knew them pretty well after all the time he spent there.

After a while, he saw a girl all on her own and smiled, making his way over to her. "Hey, I'm Jace," he said with a charming smile. "Are you waiting for someone?" He didn't want to get in her way if she was, so he figured that was probably the best way to start a conversation with her.

@hadley

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Hallie was not used to being approached by strangers, but it seemed like the Wizarding world had a lot less of a concept of stranger danger, especially in the kids. She supposed being able to stun anyone who might cause you harm made people a little braver than Muggles – not that she minded. Superheroes approached strangers all the time, and since she was training to be one, strangers were definitely going to become a part of her life. “Hallie.” She responded when the strange boy gave his name. He had an accent, and American one, and Hallie wondered if he had come with all the other Ilvermorny kids. Having your school exploded so cool. Hallie almost wished that Hogwarts had had an explosion – just a tiny one – in addition to the explosions on the carriage and ship. Dying wasn’t cool, but the explosions themselves? Awesome. Really awesome. “Sometimes I go by Hadley. Or Lee.” She wasn’t about to go explaining that whole mess, but a head’s up was always nice so that if they met again, Jace wouldn’t be confused if she wasn’t feeling so female that day. At the question about waiting for someone, Hallie snorted. “I don’t wait for anyone.” She didn’t have enough patience to wait for people, that was sure. “I’m scoping out a sidekick. Do you want to try out?” She asked.

@jace

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She gave her name. Rather, she gave him three names and Jace nodded, repeating them in his mind so he wouldn't forget. That was interesting, but he wasn't going to question her on it. "Nice to meet you," he answered, trying to be polite. Alright, so being polite wasn't really his forte. He preferred to have fun and mess around, but making a good impression on people was important too and here in England, lots of people seemed to like things done properly. He might as well give that a go. Then she snorted at his question and Jace found himself grinning and nodding. He wasn't good at waiting either. Not patient enough for it. His eyebrows lifted when she said she was looking for a sidekick. He laughed, liking the way this was going. "Well, I'm not sure how good I'll be at it, but why not?" In the very least, it sounded like fun and Jace was always ready to have fun. If she started bossing him around he probably wouldn't be good at following directions, but oh well. Why not give it a chance? "So what are we going to do?" His tone was a mix of excitement and curiosity.

@hadley

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Jace said that it was nice to meet her, and Hallie giggled. “You’re probably going to regret that!” She informed him. Hallie knew that there weren’t a lot of people who could actually keep up with her for longer than an hour or two at a time. Sure, they had a ton of fun in that hour, but afterwards people just seemed kind of burned out when all Hallie wanted to do was keep going. But hey, maybe Jace was different! Americans were cool and new, so of course Hallie needed an American best friend, even if Jace didn’t end up as her sidekick. He said that he wasn’t sure if he would be good as a sidekick, and Hallie shrugged her shoulders. “I’m still an amateur superhero, so we can learn together.” She told him. Everyone had to start somewhere, after all – it just so happened that Hallie couldn’t go through a training montage the way most of her favorite superheroes could do. Jace asked what they were going to do, and Hallie furrowed her brow at him. “Isn’t it the sidekick’s job to figure out what’s going on in the world?” She asked. It always seemed like someone else was telling superheroes where they were needed, and since Hallie didn’t have a bat signal (yet), she figured Jace could scope out something fun.

@jace

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She said he was going to regret ... that? Jace gave her a semi-confused look. What was he going to regret? Then it clicked. Meeting her? Did she think he'd regret meeting her? He shrugged, smirking just a little. "Maybe. Or you'll regret meeting me. Guess we'll have to see." She seemed like a girl that knew what she wanted and Jace found himself excited. This was probably going to be pretty fun, spending time with her. He chuckled when she said she was an amateur superhero and he couldn't help but think of his step-sister Indie. Of course, this girl was different, but they both seemed interested in the same type of things. Specifically, worlds that weren't quite real. "I'm ready," he answered, laughing at her question. "Well I already said that I wasn't going to be a good sidekick, so how is this going to work?" Jace quirked an eyebrow, curious to see how the girl would respond to his teasing.

@hadley

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Jace said that it was possible that Hallie would regret meeting him, instead of the other way around, and Hallie let out a giggle. That definitely wasn’t going to happen. Even if he turned out to be her archnemesis, she would still be happy to have met him. In addition to needing a sidekick, every hero needed a nemesis! Hallie was going to wait until school got back in session to find someone for that role, but if Jace was going to volunteer, then she wasn’t going to complain about it. Jace said that he was ready, but then immediately followed it up by saying that he wasn’t a good sidekick, which Hallie took to mean that he wasn’t going to find them an adventure. “Well, you can at least try.” Hallie said with a roll of her eyes. There was a difference between being bad at something and not putting any effort into it, and it seemed like Jace was content just to say that he was a bad sidekick and call it a day, rather than actually put any effort into improving his skills! Hallie was already fairly certain that he wasn’t going to be her permanent sidekick. She needed someone with vision, someone who went above and beyond, not someone who was content to be average.

@jace

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Jace couldn't help but smirk up at Hadley when she told him he could at least try to find n adventure. "So can you," he pointed out. "Don't heroes go with their sidekicks to find things to do?" he asked. Honestly, Jace didn't really know that much about heroes and sidekicks, but the idea of wandering off on his own in an attempt to find some adventure for her didn't sound too appealing at all. If she went with him though ... then they might be able to figure out something fun to do. He just wasn't in the mood to do it on his own. "How about this? I'll try to find us an adventure, as long as you tag along." Besides, if he left, how was he supposed to find her again? She seemed like the type that would wander off, so he couldn't help but wonder about that.

@hadley

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There was a reason Hallie was not a Hufflepuff, and that was because she had the patience equivalent to a hyperactive two-year-old. She was really not a fan of the boy arguing with her. Stupid sidekicks, always being argumentative. He was going to need to try harder if he really wanted to be a contender. Hallie shrugged when Jace asked if heroes normally went with their sidekicks. That really depended on the person, though Hallie was definitely the kind who would prefer just to be told what interesting stuff was happening, not have to go looking for it herself. Jace offered a compromise – that he'd go find them an adventure, as long as she came with him. It wasn’t bad, as far as compromises went, and it wasn’t like she’d have much to do with her only potential sidekick running off to do something. Hallie spit on her palm and held it out to Jace to shake. “Deal.” She said, standing up so that she could follow him wherever he went.

@jace

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He waited after his offer, to see what she would do. To his surprise, she spit in her palm and offered it to Jace as she said "deal." He shrugged and spit in his own palm, assuming that's what she wanted, and shook her hand, before turning and looking around himself a little. "Let's go ... this way." he said, pointing down a street and starting to walk in that direction. He thought he passed a park over here earlier. Maybe something "adventurous" would be there? "So what kind of adventures do you normally get yourself into?" Jace asked, trying to get an idea of the kind of adventure he needed to find for her. This was definitely an interesting situation, if nothing else. Indie would love hearing all about it.

@hadley

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Jace sealed the deal with his own spit and handshake, which meant that adventure was afoot. Hallie’s trainee sidekick picked an arbitrary direction to go towards, and she followed him without much hesitation. Maybe he had some sort of sixth sense that she didn’t… or maybe he just knew that she wouldn’t be all that pleased if he spent her precious time hemming and hawing about which street to go down when they were all equally good in the end. Jace asked what kind of adventures Hallie normally got up to, and she shrugged. “Your typical trainee superhero stuff. I rescued a cat from a tree once. I punched this guy because I thought he was trying to steal from Honeydukes, but apparently he worked there, so that was kind of awkward.” Hallie shrugged. She didn’t have anything super big to her name yet, but every hero had to start small.

@jace

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She didn't seem to mind Jace deciding which way they were going to walk, just followed him and he was glad. If he was supposed to take the charge on this, it was a relief that she wouldn't be micromanaging him as he did his best. He still wasn't quite sure what he was looking for, but figured that as they went along something would show up that they could help with. Hopefully. If not, she'd probably just decide he wasn't a good sidekick after all. Of all the punishments there could be, that one wasn't the worst. He smiled when she described punching a guy who she thought was stealing but wasn't. That was hilarious! Normally Jace would have laughed out loud at that, finding it funny. "I'll have to keep an eye out for something good then. I'm not really sure what kind of an adventure we'll get into." He looked around himself, smiling when he saw a park not far off. "That look like a good place to find something?" He was going there either way, but he might as well ask.

@hadley

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Jace said that he’d have to keep an eye out for something good, and Hallie figured that meant that her story had impressed him, even if the ending wasn’t everything that he was expecting. He said he wasn’t sure what kind of adventure they’d get into, and Hallie shrugged. “What’s the point of an adventure if you know what’s going to happen?” The whole thing about adventures was that you did something interesting and new, even if it wasn’t exactly what you had planned in the first place. Hallie had never planned to punch anyone (though she had always been open to the idea). Jace led them to a park area, asking if it looked like a good place, and Hallie shrugged her shoulders. “That’s for you to decide.” She said. She knew that there were a lot of people in the park, which meant that there would likely be something, but she couldn’t promise that Jace would be interested in that something. Maybe they’d have to rescue another cat.

@jace

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Jace nodded at Hadley's question, but didn't answer it. That was true. Knowing what would happen took the excitement out of an adventure, which he didn't want. Jace loved to have fun and mess around. The girl would neither confirm nor deny whether or not the park looked like a decent place to have an adventure so Jace started looking around. Anything here that would catch her fancy? He wasn't entirely sure, since he met the girl just a few minutes ago, but after a moment he saw a small child- who looked to be four or five- sitting beside a tree, crying. "Look," he said, pointing to the child. "Let's see what's going on over there." It might not be as thrilling as catching a purse-snatcher, but now that Jace saw the little boy, he couldn't just leave him there. He made his way over to the boy. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked, squatting down in front of him.

@hadley

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Hallie looked where Jace said to, and then immediately regretted that she had followed a command. She couldn’t get in the habit of that if they wanted to be an effective superhero – superheroes didn’t let others dictate what they did or didn’t do. Even sidekicks were just there to give suggestions, and keep the superhero from getting tired out with all of the lame fights. When she followed Jace’s finger to the problem, though, Hallie saw a small, crying child. Children weren’t exactly her forte, but she figured that she was going to need to get better sometime. Jace was already talking to the kid when Hallie caught up, but she heard the answer to Jace’s question – that the kid had been pushed down on the playground. Hallie squinted at the children that were playing. “Which one?” She asked. Hallie still didn’t know what exactly she was going to do, since hitting kids was a no-no, but the kid deserved to be avenged.

@jace