2014.06.04 - Individuality of Clones

The Five-in-One, no more. Of course Leo didn't know that as of yet necessarily. He wasn't the standard academy student and he probably wasn't as connected to the rumor mill as most of the students were. And while the girls did tend to keep their link going among three of them at a time as to not lose their inherent connection today was one of the days where the rule was: "No Hive Mind, Telepathy Okay." Meaning that all five of the Frost girls were full individuals with no interconnection unless they wanted to talk about something in secret, even then it could only be with their natural telepathy and not the genetic modification that allowed them to connect in the ways even telepaths couldn't.

They were sitting together in the student center, five girls identical but yet oh so different now. Even different than those little bits of individuality they all had.

There was Sophie, still the nominal leader of the group, her long blonde hair cut off into a pixie cut and dyed a deep auburn color. She was dressed in a pretty black top with a cleavage bearing neckline, large silver buttons running down the front. She wore a pair of plaid shorts, the colors matching the Academy of Tomorrow's uniform color scheme, black tights and a set of black boots with blue laces. Light natural looking make up designed just to enhance her beauty, not over do it.

Phoebe's hair had been cut to shoulder length, dyed brunette and she wore it in a pony tail that showed off the eleven piercings she had in each ear. She wore a grey button up vest wiith a white tank top underneath wearing a series of hanging necklaces each with a different charm a the end. A black miniskirt and black slit tights completed that look with a set of small casual pumps. Her make up was glamorous and fashionable, intent on making an impression on the looker.

Irma had to be one of the most dramatically different looking of them all. Her hair still hung shoulder length on the sides, but she had a set of thick bang and the back was kept short as well. It was also dyed a bright pink color. She was dressed in a black XXL Sonic Youth T-shirt that was so long on her it was a dress, the sleeves cut off and leaving her arms bare except for a set of spikey bracelets. Long dangly upside down cross earrings in each lobe. Thigh-high pink stocking connected with a black garter with a cheesy bat charm on the garters and knee high boots with a six inch platform. Her make up was very gothic in appearance but focused on matching the various pinks she wore.

Celeste however compared to the rest seemed so much the same, her hair still blonde and long, her make up still Smokey but perfect, unlike her sisters she was dressed in the school uniform of the Academy of Tomorrow and seemed a bit more passive than the rest of the girls.

Esme however seemed to have become a pure wild child. Her long hair was now platinum white, her make up dark and her lips painted black. She wore a very tight black vinyl top that zipped in the front and barely went as low as her ribcage and a pair of black latex pants that looked like they were literally painted on to her skin, her look was finished off by a set of knee high boots with a suicide heel that looked like it came to a literal point at the end of them.

The girls themselves were laughing, talking, getting into squabbles and more. They were acting almost like real people for once. They seemed more like five close friends than the quintuplet sisters who were so alike that they were considered 'creepy' and 'unnatural.'

And this is what Leo Luthor walks into when he is searching out the Cuckoos for once. He blinks, he blinks again and then he face palms. Yes, FACE PALMS! Palm meets face to hide the OMG expression!

Leo then sighs dramatically, slowly lowers his hand from his face and approaches the table. "Didn't Emma teach you fashion, to expression yourselves individually without appearing to go crazy?" And the strange part perhaps, he glances over to Celeste, "Celeste, right?" Then at the others, "Sophie," pointing to the right one as well. "And....," he pauses, "I can't even guess the other three yet, my apologizes."

The girls all looked at each other and they all smiled but all in slightly different ways.


 * "Well it seems he's at least talked to mother. He isn't entirely in shock that we look different now"|


 * "Yes, that's true. But even Mother doesn't know just how far we have been taking this since our... stupid idea"|


 * "You do know what this means right?"|


 * "We have to mess with him!"|

The girls all looked at Leo and said in that beautiful unison that they spoke in before all this happened, "Hello Leo. We have no idea what you're talking about. We look the exact same as we..."

Phoebe, the brunette, started laughing in the middle of it, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I couldn't get through it with a straight face. I can't believe we used to talk like that all the time!"

The Plantinum blonde, Esme, spoke up next, "I know right! We must have sounded like such dorkuses!"

Sophie shook her head and laughed a bit as well, "Sorry Leo, we just wanted to mess with you a bit. But to reintroduce you." She pointed to the Brunette, "Phoebe," then to the Pink Haired, "Irma," and then to the white-haired one, "Esme."

Irma spoke up and said, "And what you're seeing isn't us going crazy, it's us being able to show off our individuality for the first time. You've seen hints of it here and there. The way we dressed before was a merging of the way we all wanted to look. Now you just get to see what we always wanted to be like."

Esme said, "You want to see us go crazy, you should have seen us on the roof."

"Uh-huh." Leo crosses his arms at that. "And the gigglier gives it away. I guess Emma wasn't kidding when she said you were trying to spend time outside of each other's heads. I'm proud of you, it's a good experience. Though careful you don't isolate yourselves. You have a precious gift, just use it wise," he states firmly at the last part.

Leo then nods at each of the girls in turn, the ones he missed identifying. Though he made sure to identify Celeste first, he wouldn't dare do otherwise. He always did make a point to treat her just a tad bit more special than her sisters; nothing new there.

"I don't know...pink hair, seriously? A t-shirt of...anyway." Leo then shrugs, "And the roof top wasn't crazy. From what I hear you were panicked, scared, and didn't want to hurt innocents. It sounds like you girls were trying to do the bravest thing you could think of. What's crazy about that? Rather, I'd call it noble." Is he taking a guess? Does he really know?

Funny that Leo treats Celeste special, and since the transformation of sorts she is the only one who actually looks the same. What does that say about her really? Is she just so shy and timid that she can't break out of it all? Who knows? The girls don't. ."

Sophie smiles at Leo and says, "We still join in groups of three most days. Mondays and Fridays are our special days where we all get to experience individuality at the same time. We would never dream of destroying our unique bond. But we also need to be sure that we don't become an echo chamber of bad ideas or controlled actions.

Irma touched her hair defensively and says, "Hey! I'll have you know I'm wearing the -height- of the pastel goth attire. And besides my girlfriend likes it so that's all I need to know!"

Phoebe said, "And if only what we did was out of fear or panic. We had no emotions then. We did it because it seemed logical and rational. If mother and the others weren't there..."

She pauses and wipes a tear away, Esme finishes her thought, "If those we cared about weren't there, then we'd be dead. No longer a weapon, but no longer the unique individuals we are."

Please page 157 if interested. [Mon Jun 02 19:25:16 2014]

"Uh-huh, Goth. Quite respectable." A smirk from Leo at that, almost as if he is about to tease Irma, but gets distracted...the girlfriend thing doesn't phase him. "That is what makes me wander. Logic or rational? Destorying something that could be changed for the good of mankind? Not very rational until all other reasonable options have been exhausted, which one was presented. How can that be thinking logically or rationally?" He shakes his head at that? "What would it matter if those you care about were there, if you were thinking wholly logically and rationally? What could they have done to sway you, if you were heartless, without emotion? It seems...countradicting. I don't think your powers are as simplified as you say they are."

Leo then shrugs, "I wasn't there, I don't know all the details, but it does make me wonder. Does that make sense?"

"Uh-huh, Goth. Quite respectable." A smirk from Leo at that comment, almost as if he is about to tease Irma, but he gets distracted and not about the girlfriend thing, that does not appear to phase him.

"If you were thinking logically and rationally, why not exhaust all possible reasonable options before attempting sucide? No matter if your loved ones were there or not, if you had thought logically and exhausted all your options in a rational manner, you would not have been swayed. I was not there, I do not know the details, but it appears a rational alternative was provided, that you accepted or emotionally you wanted to live and this is an irrational option you are attempting to save yourselves? I wonder...if your powers are as simplistic as you attempt to make them seem," Leo comments.

Esme roles her eyes and said, "We do appreciate the arm chair psychoanalysis. But you are not us, your not even a telepath. You do not know how our mind was working and honestly if I wanted the opinion of mother's boy-t-"

"ESME!" Sophie said loudly and with a great fiery anger, "Stop! It! Now!" She looked over at Leo and said, "Sorry, you've seen how Esme gets even when we are all linked. Well... Not being linked has made her even more head strong, unfortunately."

Celeste then suddenly spoke up for the first time since Leo had shown up, "But the truth is Leo, we did exhaust ever other option. We explored our origins, attempted psychic surgery, cut off our emotions, did the equivalent of years of research into the subject of latent psychic brainwashing and genetic weapon research. We discussed the situation with Weapon Ten and Weapon Thirteen as well. Ten proved fruitless because he was not placed with the same type of psychic brainwashing. Thirteen told us that his rebellion came due to the unique nature of his dual brain and nervous clusters."

Celeste looked down slightly and said, "The facts were, without disconnecting from each other permanently, something at that time we were not willing to do, there was no other solution. Our brains are locked out from other psychics so the programming could not be removed that way. We also theorize there is a backup system, more than likely in our bone marrow. That is why the Diamond form breaks it, because when we are diamond we have no blood."

Irma then said, "And our decision to stop was made because of one woman, my girlfriend Kurenai, she came all the way back from Japan, trekked across the entire country to be with me again. It melted my heart, quite literally. An irrational decision."

Sophie then added, "And we didn't even stop then, we forced her from the connection so her desire to live wouldn't overwhelm the group, we grabbed her to bring her with us. We were just lucky that we had touched more lives than we realized."

"Weapon...," and then he remembers the research he did that he wasn't able to access. The chances of the girls being that project is higher and higher. "How deeply have you already researched into psychic brainwashing and genetic weapon research?"

Celeste quietly said, "When linked together to properly access the level of information we absorbed, we have the equivalent of three decades worth of research into the matter."

Phoebe shrugged, "That's more or less, right. The only disadvantage to keeping our links small or non-existant..."

"Except for the pain," Celeste quickly added.

Phoebe nodded at Celeste, "Except for the pain of loss and withdrawal we all feel is that our minds work at the same speed as a regular persons mind. When we are fully liked together.." she paused trying to find the right words or description.

Sophie said, "It's like we are five super-computers connected together and each increasing the processing power of the others. It's why we have problems with interaction. The world around us moves too slow."

Leo then shrugs, "Then you should have jumped. If you exhausted all possibilities and no one else can be of any assistance, you are going to make Kurenai suffer as she gets more and more attached, before you betray her. Perhaps when all is said and done, she will lose her will to live as well. After all, no one is smarter than you, right Sophie? No one can be more knowledgeable than you, right Celeste? No one could understand your pain, right? So why pretend you will have a tomorrow?"

A brief pause, "My suggestion, separate physically as well, or jump off that roof already. Because you are exactly where you began, just wearing different clothes and different haircuts and colors." Leo then nods slightly, "I wouldn't say it was a pleasure knowing you, but it certainly was interesting and has given me insight on future...projects." He then moves as if to walk away.

Perhaps they will take his bait, will ask him what he means, or anything other than wallow and play pretend that this is their solution.

All the girls mouths sort of drop open. It wasn't some big telepathic trick or something like that, it was just in utter shock that he was say anything like that to them.

Esme was already up on her feet, her body turning to diamond as she said, "Who do you think you are boy toy!? Just because mother likes you so much doesn't mean we have to take that sort of..."

Celeste, timid, passive, shy and quite, Celeste suddenly stood up slammed her hands on the table and screamed, "SHUT THE HELL UP ESME!"

Esme froze, her body turning back to normal as she did so. Celeste continued, "I'm sick and tired of your attitude. Of all your attitudes! Of my damn attitude!"

She clearly had the attention of all the girls now. Apparently when Celeste has something to say, she says it! "All we do is take the high ground, talk about how advanced we are, how amazingly brilliant we are. And we -are-! We are bloody well possibly the most advanced set of telepaths to exist or ever to exist!"

While her accent was already very similar to Emma Frost's Celeste's delivery of the words was sounding even more that way. She looked at her sisters and pointed at Leo, "Look at this bloody gorgeous man! He's stood up for us, tried to help us, every goddamn step of the way. And you all have been acting like cows and slags to him since the day we met."

She looked at Leo, "Leo darling, come sit back down and talk to us. We'll share what we know, you tell us what you've found. Because as much as they haughtily bints and I think we're no it alls, a new perspective might just help."

Sophie finally found her own voice, "We cut out Hope from it all last time and we almost killed each other. I think, I think we need all the allies we can get on this." She looked over to Leo, "Can you forgive a bunch of smug, spoiled rotten girls and lets us talk about it some more?

"If I didn't know what forgiveness was, Emma and I weren't be as close as we are now. We have both mis-stepped, it's part of being human," Leo explains. He does turn back and grabs a chair to pull up. And he does something he hasn't really done with the girls before, giving them a true chance and opening up some. He emits to them telepathically, |"I'm here, and I'm listening. I'm not here to judge, I'm here to help you over the next hurdle; forgiving yourselves and finding a long-term resolution."|


 * "Thank you"| one of the girls voices says in Leo's mind. Which one it is, is still hard to determine they do all sound mostly alike. Especially telepathically as they do not have their accent when they speak with the mind.


 * "Truth be told when we are separate we're likely not strong enough to pierce your minds defense. Mother, trains her students well. And our powers are greater as the Five-in-One rather than Five Ones."|

Another voice, is it the same one? They literally all sound a like in here |"We shall share some facts about our situation to you telepathically. As we do not necessarily wish them to be overheard. But we do know you prefer to not have girls wandering around you head"|


 * "And we won't, we'll share what we know and then we can talk as normal."|


 * "We are the Weapon XIV, created in an experimental facility of the Weapon Plus program called 'The World.' The World is used to take the genetically created weapons and age them to physical maturity so that they're powers and abilities are at there greatest. This is where we grew up. It's apparently quite the unusual place based on what Fantomex told us."|

And more of the same voice, Leo has to assume its different girls because of the pauses, but there is no other clue, |"We do not remember the World. Which lead us to believe that unlike Fantomex, we did not escape it, but rather released. We have had two occasions that we have directly identified that we have been compromised and forced to endanger the students of this school. We believe there is a trigger inside us that can be accessed remotely and make us do what the Weapon Plus program wants."|

Sophie gave a weak smile and said, "And that's the long and the short of it to be honest. We turned our hearts into diamond when we realized what we were and refused to face it."

Phoebe added, "And that did not go very well for us."

Leo shrugs slightly as he telepathically responds, |"Girls are enough trouble without being in your head. I learned that very early in life."| Yes, he just smirked a bit in the physical world. Still, he becomes more serious as the tales comes out. "I'd like to speak with this Fantomex if at all possible. Furthermore, I understand why they would do something like that, but I hold a different philosophy and I am willing to back it up. There is something more than just raw knowledge, it is perspective, inspiration, and passion. These things can provide new discovies that someone just as smart or even with more knowledge could never know. It is these things that create geniuses, not brain power. Just because you came up against walls perviously, does not mean it is hopeless now," Leo explains.

"This is not the proper place to discuss such things, but I want you all to think and consider what you really want from life, what you desire, what you want to do and what motivates you, each individually. And I want you to share that information with me later this week after you have time to think about it," Leo says. "It may seem like a silly homework project, but it's with purpose. If you can indulge me, I believe I may be able to provide an alternative solution. It will not be an immediate one, but it will be one that can open doors."

The girls looked at each other for a moment and then Sophie said, "Honestly I'm not sure how likely getting Fantomex to talk to you is going to be considering.... well considering you are a licensed superhero working for the BSA and Fantomex is... well..."

Esme rolled her eyes and said, "Don't mince words. Fantomex is a a super-thief and a faux-frog. He likes to steal things and stay one step ahead of the law. He only comes to us because he thinks of us as his little sisters. I thinks he's a bit of a pervo."

Sophie goes, "Yeah, what she said."

Celeste said, "And raising us in the World wasn't meant to let us have good and wonderful lives. It was to prepare us for our role as the Gestalt. A group of super-powered teens who could turn off the minds of its enemies with a thought. But you're right, what we were meant for doesn't matter now. What we are counts."

Phoebe chuckles at the home work that Leo gave them, "Oh I think we all know what Celeste wants out of life. I think she showed it all to us rather well."

It was innocent sister teasing, but it still made Celeste blush heavily, despite her outburst she was the most timid of them all, "Shut uppppp."

Irma looked at Leo and said, "It's good advice Leo, I'm sure we all appreciate it. Even though some of us have ourselves more figured out than others."

Sophie added, "We hope one day you can come to trust us as much as you trust mother. We'd all like that. Right, Esme!?"

Esme looked a little lost in thought as she looked at Celeste but Sophie's words brought her out of it, "Oh yes, of course. Friendship is Magic and all that other sort of thing."

Leo gets this expression of...'Do I look like I care?' "It's fine. As long as he isn't stealing in front of me, or stealing from me or mine, I won't bother him for now. I haven't a reason to go out of my way to harass him."

A pause, "Did you just make a My Little Pony quote?" Another pause, "That does it, you are grounded Esme. For life." And Leo wrinkles his nose at the young woman. He doesn't tease Celeste for her blushing, but it does make him smile on the inside. "Or at least until you upgrade to Dr. Who or Star Trek." Wait...Leo can joke and kid around?! When did this happen?! This is a side the girls haven't really gotten to see.

"As for trusting that deep, we shall see. Emma and my relationship is particularly...unique, and complicated. It was done through a series of mis-steps, apologizes, and forgiveness, and in ways, exposing our more ugly sides to each other. It's not the most pleasent way to go through making a strong relationship, but it worked for us. I wouldn't exchange it for the world." Doesn't help he isn't interested in ruling anyway, but eh, it's the thought that counts!

Esme smirks, "Oh yes, I'm sure you have to power to ground me," She looks up at the clock in the center and says, "Well shit. All this stupidity has made me late."

She gets back up from the table and grabs her book bag, "And Doctor Who and Star Trek are Irma and Celeste's things. I wouldn't -dare- take it away from them, they do need something to make them interesting after all. Later Sisters, see you at midnight for the change."

Sophie frowned as Esme left in a hurry, she had her suspicions of what Esme was up to but wasn't going to pry, that was one of the rules. Each girl gets there own individual life that the others were not allow to pry into. All information had to be shared willingly.

Phoebe however does speak up, "As you can see a lot of our asshole-ness went into her."

Irma then said, "We do however have the advantage with you as well. We've had our share of mis-steps and apologies and the like with you so far. Perhaps we are more like mother than we realize."

"Oh joy, see I get a favorite and a least favorite now," Leo says, mostly jokingly. Mostly. But he doesn't dispute Esme's departure. "That's a good thing Irma. Emma is strong and determined, I have a lot of respect for her," the words ringing sincerely. "Alright, Esme isn't cool enough for this, but how about you girls pull out your cell phones and we actually do this thing, called exchanging numbers?" Wait, he almost sounds like he is flirting!!!!

The numbers are exchanged, and it's actually somewhat funny. As if somehow it was planned. And knowing who their mother is, it may well have been. The girls numbers are Area Code-Exchange-0001 (Sophie), 0002 (Phoebe), 0003 (Irma) and 0004 (Celeste). It was easy to guess that Esme's was 0005 even if the girls didn't tell him, which they did anyways.

Celeste herself smiled softly as she put Leo's number into her phone. Though there was no way in hell she would ever tell anyone what she put his contact name as. Her sisters had embarrassed her enough today about her crush on Leo. Not going to let it go further.

When the deed is done Sophie said with a sweet smile on her face, "Thank you for this Leo. I know we aren't the easiest people in the world to get along with. I think I speak for all us, even Esme when I say we appreciate this second chance to do right by you. A friend of ours told us that with Great Power comes Great Responsibility. I think it's time we start living up to that ourselves."

Phoebe snorts in laughter at Sophie's last part, "Sophie luvs Peter! Sophie luvs Peter!"

Sophie turned a bit red herself this time, matching her new hair, "Shutup! Not in front of Leo! He's going to think us wicked!"

"If life was easy, it would be boring." And Leo doesn't really seem to hold any of the old animosity that he did before. He saves everyone's numbers, including Esme's. He nods, ignoring that little bit of teasing, letting them have their fun, "He sounds like an intelligent man. He's right about great power comes with great responsibility." Leo then starts taking photos of each of the girls to match them up with their photos! He grins impishly at his own actions. He of course, took Celeste's first. "Anyone have an embarassing photo of Esme I can use?"

Phoebe raises her hand right into the air, "Oh yes! I do! I have a picture of her drooling in her sleep. I'll send it to you." She immediately went to typing to send the picture over to Leo's phone. Seemed that while Esme was the asshole, that didn't mean that Phoebe didn't have a bit of a wicked streak in her as well.

Sophie just smiled and shook her head at Phoebe's over reactive display. She was just enjoying everyone getting along for once. Even with Esme gone it did make her feel like perhaps they did have a real chance at having actual lives.

Irma however looked at Leo for a moment and asked, "So we know you've talked to mother. We have to ask, how much did she tell you.. about us I mean."

"That's...actually kinda cute," Leo says with some surprise. "Don't tell her I said that though." He will download it once he gets it and assign it to Esme's number. "Less than what you girls told me, she doesn't tend to make decisions for others," Leo states.

"Hey, Celeste's picture caught her with one of her half smiles. Cool." Leo then asks, "You really going to keep the pink hair Irma? You kinda remind me of those old Jem posters I saw in an antique shop window. Some cartoon from the 80s. If it really makes you happy...but none of you have to dramatically change yourselves appearance wise to be your own persons.

"

Sophie nods, "Then you know we are actually her children in a way. That's good to know, its so odd not being able to tell people that. Mother thinks that it will only cause problems since human cloning is illegal."

Phoebe added, "Its also nice to know we can trust mother as much as we do. Not that there was really any doubt about that."

Celeste blushes a bit and Sophie says, "Oh stop it Celeste, you know you have the prettiest smile out of all of us. You get that same little half one that mother does. That one that everyone adores. Let the poor boy give you a compliment for once. You might find you like them."

Celeste does the exact same half smile and says, "Alright, alright. I give in. Not my fault that turns out I was all the shyness we have."

At the comment of her hair Irma smiles a bit and says, "Yes I've seen Jem actually. I know we're young but we do love absorbing all the information we can possibly get." She touched her hair pulling one of the long parts in front of her eyes to look at it, "And I like it. Makes me feel like I'm in an anime."

Phoebe chuckles, "Yeah it's called Revolutionary Girl Utena. Though in your case the dark haired girl is the one with the sword."

The girls all laugh at their seeming inside joke.

"It doesn't bother me, you aren't perfectly identical clones anyway," Leo states simply. "You are altered, even if two people's DNA wasn't used." He's seriously laid back about clones, then again, he has been working on it, a LOT. "And shy is a nice change of pace. /Believe/ me." He thinks of Galatea and mentally groans painfully. The anime stuff, over head. "Then think you should try blue sometime?" Alright, so Leo doesn't care for pink, but he can try! He isn't hitting on Irma really, but darn...he likes pretty girls, so why not try and get her to wear a color he likes much more? Leo of course pretends to blink innocently.

Celeste nods, "It's more accurate to say we are her daughters not her clones. The natural blonde hair is sort of a give away with that."

Sophie smiled at Celeste and nodded, "And the selective diamond transformation."

When Leo keeps talking about Irma's hair Phoebe just starts laughing, "Woah there boy. Trust me, you are completely barking up the wrong tree with, Irma. If you put us in the right order we are a virtual Kinsey Scale. Celeste on one end, Irma on the other. Sophie's next to Celeste. I'm next to Sophie. Esme's next to me and Irma's on the end. We are only omnisexual when we're all linked... or your me."

Irma however decided to have a little fun with all of this, "Hmm, I could see going a nice pastel blue. It would match Leo's hair."

Celeste mock pushed her sister and said, "Come off it you little snipe! You've got your super-powered hottie. Let me have mind." Celeste stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Leo and said, "Not, that I'm saying anything like that of course."

"Hey, just because I enjoy looking, doesn't mean I aim to touch," Leo states. "Mmm, you really should try blue, your girlfriend might really like it." He winks playfully, but not the least bit serious with the wink. Though Celeste's outburst, he blinks and seems to weigh her words carefully.

Leo then nods, "Alright Celeste," taking her word for it. He doesn't press.

Sophie smiled broadly and said, "And look what you've done already Leo. One short conversation with you and my sisters are at each others throats." She mockingly rolled her eyes, "I knew you were trouble from the moment I laid eyes on you."

Honestly Sophie was adoring all of what was going on. They weren't kidding earlier when they said it was painful to be apart mentally. The joy the meeting was bringing was distracting to that whole situation. As the nominal leader of them all it was nice for her to watch them getting along so well and not feeling isolated and alone like they usually all feel.

Sophie's phone then beeped an alarm, "Oh damned everything. I told Peter I'd meet him in an hour from now. I still have to do my hair and makeup."

Phoebe laughs, "Once again I say: Sophie wuvs Peter."

Sophie smirked a little bit and said, "I do not. He's just a friend."

Irma joined in with Phoebe's taunting, "Oh yes, that's why you were once gone until almost seven in the morning one day with him."

Sophie stamped her foot down in semi-mock indignation, "I told you all, nothing happened. I just needed to talk to someone."

Phoebe smiled, "Oh you needed something that involved mouths but it wasn't talking."

Sophie crossed her arms and said, "Oh please only you and Irma have done that!"

Celeste looked at the sisterly banter going on and looked back at Leo, "We're always like this. We are so used to having these sort of conversations in our heads that we sometimes forget that other people can hear us now."

Leo opens mouth, then closes it. This is where he should not raise his hand and say he has done it. He glances anywhere except at the girls, trying to appear innocent. Though when Celeste speaks, he looks back over at her. He chuckles, "It's fine. It feels good to see you and your sisters like this. The teasing, the bickering, all of it. You aren't the Creepy Cuckoos anymore, that's for sure."

But Leo then moves to stand and leans over Celeste to give her a kiss atop her head. "Don't let them tease you too badly, not at least without getting some jabs in yourself." Encouraging the badness, yes he is! Instigator! In either case he says, "Please, everyone take care, and contact me later this week when you are ready to talk, each of you. You can do so individually, that's fine."

Sophie, Phoebe and Irma were very involved in their mock heated argument to hear Leo's advice to Celeste but as he stands to leave they stop and look at each other and then nod. Celeste stands up and gives Leo a kiss on the cheek, "We all wanted to say thank you for listening to us, and for always treating us like individuals. Even when we weren't."

Sophie says, "And we'll more than likely take you up on your offer to help when you can."

Phoebe smiles and adds to that, "Though you'll probably regret it in a week. We are a big old ball of crazy lately."

Irma folds her arms and looks away from them with a smile, "Speak for your self. Celeste and I are perfectly normal."

Celeste smiles and winks at Leo and then turns around and says, "Yes perfectly sane. Says the girl with hair that looks like a cotton candy machine exploded on her."

Irma looks at Celeste with a bit of shock at the comment.

Sophie says, "Oh Celeste, we'll make a Frost of you yet. Though hopefully without the unhappiness that mother had to go through."

The girls refocus back to Leo and Celeste says, "Good day, Leo. Try not to get yourself killed fighting aliens or other such ridiculousness."