Fall
Eventually I was able to escape when Doctor Strange took pity on me and persuaded his cloak to let me go. Deri and I worked the crowd, she took the younger kids, I took the older, but we already knew quite a few because they were related to us. Imogen stayed fairly close to her father and Aunt Barbara, but seemed really glad to see me, and not just because there were so many strange people. I introduced her to more of the cousins, and Alan and Alfred put tables together, fired up the barbecue, and started bringing out all sorts of sides, chips, and desserts. A crowd of men sidled up, each angling to be the grill master. Iris and Miles joined me as I was trying not to laugh at the display of dominance. Dad won, just by affably saying it wasn't acceptable to make his guests work for their dinner. There were some disappointed superheroes. "Bet you five bucks that Grandpa Bruce wrests away the tongs at some point," I murmured, and they laughed, refusing to bet.
"Hey, Lys, I applied for an apartment yesterday," Miles said.
"Let me know if you get it," I said. "And get me the paint chips you were talking about. Your homework is to look around and get some ideas about furniture styles." Iris smiled and her brother patted my shoulder.
"Are you free next week?" he asked. "Because we could shoot in one of two smaller studios, Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, or Sunday morning." We settled on Sunday morning because school was starting, and he said he'd borrow a family pod and come pick me up. "Hey, Chris," he said, reaching out to pat his shoulder. Iris and I perked up. Chris has that effect. He's just so darn nice, and he looked even better than usual. He was lifeguarding at the beach this summer, taking a break from classes at Princeton, and his blond hair had a lot of streaky highlights. A light tan set off his blue eyes, and he grinned.
"Cousins," he greeted us. "Always good to see you guys." And we got a hug each. He and Iris talked about college for a bit, then he asked Miles what it was like to dance in a company, and he asked me questions about London and my new sports. He never left anybody out. We chatted to allow the non-family guests to get their meals, then joined the rest of the family in line.
Before the party broke up, Jon found me again. "I'm sorry if I came on too strong," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "It's just...I'm looking at a long career as a hero, and it would be really nice to put together a group that's distinct from the traditional groups, put our own stamp on crime-fighting."
"Nothing that says you can't," I pointed out. "There are a ton of up and comers here, all our generation. A lot of my cousins are looking to be involved in some way, and the cave is a family thing; Pete and Nick have access as Robins, you could start to pave your own way now, then you'll be pretty well prepared when you're done sidekicking. If you talk to Uncle Richard, I'm sure he can give you tips."
"He meant that it's turning into something of a sausage fest," Wally said, draping his arm around my shoulder. "This was a great party, and we did meet some girls who might want to form a sort of sidekicks squad. We're still looking for support people, so if you change your mind, just give us a whistle." He gave me a peck on the cheek and hustled Jon away.
Boys.
The next day the locals took groups of the visitors out to show them New York--a lot of the heroes had worked in the city for emergencies, but Gotham, as the city as it's known when it's referred to by the supercriminals, is a lot different from the city normal people know. Most of the sidekicks had never been before, and there were some kids who wouldn't touch heroing with a fifty foot pole. There were at least two cousins to every group, making sure that all the visitors were included and groups varied by interest. I went out with cousins William, Bruce, and Tabby. Bruce was considering taking over Iron Man, and Uncle Tony had mixed feelings about this, but recognized that it was his choice. William didn't want to actually go out heroing, but Uncle Bucky had been teaching him Systema and other martial arts forever, and he was thinking about maybe setting up as a trainer of heroes. They were there to kind of feel out some of the other sidekicks and maybe-heroes, while Tabby and I were along to be good hosts and I'd diligently studied up on city history. This was a historical architecture tour of Manhattan and I didn't know much about it. Tabby contributed stories of Batman battles at some of the sites. The adults were all off doing their thing in bunches; I heard talk of baseball games, shopping, restaurant visits. Parents with younger kids were making a day of it in Central Park and the zoo with a behind-the-scenes tour with Uncle Bucky, which is where Deri was.
Fortunately, nobody wanted to leap out of bed, so I was able to get my class time in on the river. The last regatta of the year was going to be in late September and I wanted to compete in the novice juniors race for a one-person scull. Coach said I was coming along nicely, so I wanted to push myself for this competition. That out of the way, though, I focused on being social and informative. I'd brought my camera along and occasionally got good shots of our guests as well as interesting scenes in the city. We had Hal Jordan's son Kyle, who had applied to the Air Force Academy following his dad into the services, Martian Manhunter's niece M'ghann, Vixen's son and daughter, Ben and Amaia, Obsidian's adopted daughter Jennie, and Arsenal's daughter Rian. We had a good time goofing around, more than I'd anticipated, actually, and everybody met up for dinner at the mansion again. I could see that people were in general more open and friendly and relaxed than they'd been, and the kids were exchanging contact information. I sent photographs of my group to them and when word got around, I was asked to take candids and portraits at the dinner, which I sent to those who wanted them. Pete and Nick kept a watchful eye on Jon and Wally, I was amused to see. The party lasted until around nine, when the guests started to return home; the locals conveyed the out-of-towners to the airports while we kids could just spend a little time getting ready for the next day before going to bed; school was starting. I put the chip with the photographs I'd taken of the unmasked heroes and their families in the safe in the bat cave; they were nice to have, but also potentially dangerous should somebody with bad intentions find them.
I was kind of relieved to go back to school the next day, to tell the truth. I had rowing practice, showered and changed at the club, and started my new classes, interested to find out what I'd be learning this year. Jinx was in my history class, Ari in environmental science, and Justine in AP English. I got to start off the day right with photography. I recognized about half the class of fifteen; there were first-year classes, and one each second, third, and fourth. It was too bad I'd missed freshman year here and lost out on that extra year. We all got to talk about what we did photography-wise over the summer; I wasn't the only one to take a class, but mine were the only ones focused on particular aspects. I was happy to share the main points of what I'd learned, and we all got to put our images up on the projector, explain the context and any interesting information about how we'd taken the shot, and listen to critiques and answer questions. My photojournalism shoots got a lot of questions and I was able to explain why they were good examples or not. The teacher had some thoughts to share too, and everybody laughed at the fashion shoot; the clothes were pretty out there, but the teacher said my technique was 'surprisingly good.' He didn't say it in a dismissive or disdainful way, though, it was actually a compliment about how well I'd done for the limited experience I had. What I didn't say was that I'd shown Uncle Steve, and he'd been impressed enough to invite me to shoot one of his in-house shows. Some of the really old-time ateliers didn't do fashion weeks, preferring instead to have showings on their own premises, with models showing small collections for the customers. Uncle Steve did do fashion week, but he also had tiny capsule collections three times a year, showing five new looks for summer, fall, and holidays. His holiday capsule collection was debuting next week, and I'd gotten parental permission immediately to skip a couple of classes for this opportunity. It would be calculus and history, so... yeah. Not anything I was dying to take.
"It really feels good to be back," I said to my friends at lunch. "I like routine."
Nix smiled. "Routine is comfortable," he agreed. "And I like spending time with you guys. Two years from now, that's going to be over."
"Wow. Way to crush the mood," Imogen said after a damp silence descended over our table. "That's still two years away, as you said. Let's just enjoy the moment." She changed the subject. "Love your hair, Anna." Gina had done away with the greens from spring and summer and worked a raspberry pink in there with my blues and purples. Today it was long and straight and glossy, just turned under at the ends. "I've been meaning to ask... when did you learn to do your makeup like that? It looks flawless."
I hadn't been wearing much beyond eyeliner, mascara, and lip balm over the summer because of the heat and humidity; makes me break out despite the advanced formulas. "Didn't I say?" I said, frowning. "They had to cancel the patternmaking class I'd registered for, so I took a makeup class instead." Justine, Imogen, and Nix leaned in. Nix liked wearing eyeliner, feeling like he related to punks, but honestly his technique wasn't very good. He had weird smudges instead of the artfully disheveled look he was trying for. Ari, Jinx, and Mark leaned back, smirking. "I could show you guys. It's so easy when you know the right things to use and how to use them. That's the tricky part." So there was an immediate shuffling of plans. The four of us would meet downtown at Sephora on Saturday morning, where I would help them select products, then we'd meet the others for lunch and a movie, then we'd go to Nix's house (it was closest) where I'd show them how to improve their techniques. I was glad to be able to share what I'd learned, and would send them appropriate handouts.
It was good to settle back in.