From The Mouths of Babes [Open!]

Oliver let out a small sigh of relief when he realized that it was only Justice that he'd run into. He knew that he would be teased, yes - but he could handle it coming from Justice. He could handle it from most people, to be honest. It was the idea of running into someone like Errol or Tamara that had him worried. Or Bathory or Jack the Ripper, for that matter. There were plenty of people that he didn't want much, if anything to do with, but Justice was one of his good friends. Orville Wright and Walt Disney actually turned out to have quite a bit in common. Go figure.

Justice's response was expected, though still resulted in a raised eyebrow and a 'seriously?' look from Oliver. "Looking back, yes, I imagine he would feel that way. In fact, there's proof. If you look at later pictures of him, he loses the moustache. That said, he also loses most of the hair on his head, so that might not be entirely by choice..."[/color] Oliver grinned at this point, showing that he could poke fun at himself pretty easily, provided that he was in the right mood for it. It depended on company and mood, really. Honestly, with Walt Disney reincarnated standing in front of him wearing a prominently displayed Goofy hat complete with ears and all? It would be next to impossible for him to remain too annoyed if he even tried.

The effects of Justice's get-up were evident on Kristy as well. Her eyes visibly widened as she took in the colorful display directly in front of her. The blue hair. The lime green hat. The darker green pants. The shirt with Goofy prominently displayed on it. The ears coming from the hat. Kristy was alight with childish wonder. "Are you supposed to be Goofy?" She asked, knowing well enough at this point that the teenager before her was not actually Goofy (for one thing, he did not have Goofy's face), though she could tell that he was obviously dressed in the same fashion. She was delighted.

"Ollie, does he build things too?" Kristy asked, pointing to Justice. She then spoke to Justice. "Ollie says he learns how to build all sorts of things at school. He's built some toys for me before. I want to learn how to do that. All they show us how to make is picture frames and stuff with beads."

Oliver turned a light shade of red at this. The learning how to build things in school was, of course, a white lie, and he had a feeling that Justice would see right through it as well. Justice's words rang out clear, and seemed quite fitting given the entire situation. "They do, don't they? I think that's both a blessing and a curse."[/color] Both now and in the past. Oliver's penchant for making comments when he was Kristy's age led to trouble on more than one occasion. Chances were, of course, that Kristy was not a reincarnate, so she would never need to worry about such things. Still, he knew that he would have to be careful of what to say around her.

Oliver did consider himself lucky. Having Justice there would make entertaining Kristy that much easier. Oliver liked children, there was no doubt about that, but even he had his limits, and he was still a bit bitter that this was foisted upon him with no other choice. It was the principle of the thing more than anyone else.

Plus, there wasn't much that he could do at the moment. He could entertain children if he wanted to, but most of his methods of entertaining were in ways he did not feel comfortable doing in this life. He couldn't build anything at the moment, as he did not have the proper materials and was in an environment that Errol and Tamara could enter at any moment and send the whole thing sky high. He liked cooking sweets for the kids in his life, but he couldn't very well do that out and about either. He'd gone out for a book to humor Kristy, and now Kristy was finding sources of humor at his expense. It was a little frustrating, but he would have to cope. Oliver looked down at Kristy and grinned. "You can read the book to us at some point if you want."[/color] Oliver looked at Justice with a large grin. "My cousin, Kristy, just learned how to read."[/color] Kristy beamed, and Oliver smiled. That was his intended effect. Though his grin was a bit wistful as Kristy's features blurred in his mind's eyes with those of his nieces Ivonette and Leontine...


Word count: 811
To: Open!
Notes: ...wow I had too much fun with this. XD

Oliver could definitely take this light hearted teasing. The best part was, no one other than Justice and Oliver (and any other RSOR member who might be listening in) would even realize that there was any banter going on. RSOR was chock full of inside jokes. Sure enough, Kristy failed to realize that Justice and Oliver were in fact talking about Oliver in his past life, and simple regarded the conversation with interest.

"It does work for some people. I'm just saying if you can't grow hair on your head you might not be able to grow it on your face either."[/color] Oliver let out a laugh, then wore a strange grin that showed that he knew more of what was going on than he was letting on. He liked that Kristy was thoroughly amused by Justice, and it was only partially because it distracted her from making unintentional references that made him slightly uncomfortable. To Justice's question about his nose, Oliver nodded.

Kristy, on the other hand, furrowed her brow, as if she was seriously considering it. Then, she nodded as well. "Yeah, Goofy's nose is a lot bigger. But he's supposed to be a dog. Dogs have bigger noses." The six year old seemed proud that to have this knowledge.

Then Justice mentioned that he drew things. "You draw things? And Oliver builds them? That's really cool! I wanna take that class when I go to high school!" The fact that Oliver and Justice did this sort of thing in their spare time was completely lost on Kristy, who was still basing her thoughts on the matter on what Oliver told her about building things for class. Fortunately, there actually were classes like the aforementioned, so even when Kristy grew older she probably would not realize the true extent of what Oliver and Justice were telling her.

Oliver raised an eyebrow as Justice changed the conversation to beads. He knew that Justice was simply trying to make conversation for Kristy, but his comment about building things sent Oliver on the defensive. "Well, you still need to build things. The world would be a much different place if people didn't build things."[/color] Realizing that he'd grown perhaps a bit too defensive over something small (yet something that impacted him greatly), he then grinned. "Still, everyone has different things that they enjoy. For example, Justice drew a picture of a bird and I built a mechanical model of it. We could show you some time, if you want."[/color] Well, it would probably be Oliver who did the showing, considering.

The freshman was a tad reluctant to have Kristy read the book in the store, but in the end decided that it would probably be better if Kristy read it sooner rather than later. Plus he knew that with all the attention the book was receiving, Kristy would very much want to show off how well she could read to Justice. As expected, Kristy looked at him with wide, expectant eyes, and Oliver couldn't help but smile. Ah, children. He always had been better at entertaining them than Will, and, in all honesty, more comfortable with them than with adults sometimes. "Yeah, that's fine. I'm curious to see what that book has to say too."[/color]

Kristy was clearly pleased with this outcome. "Let's go! I can read it just as well as the teacher does." She admired her teacher's ability to read in front of the class, and intended to mimic what the teacher did while reading when she read to her cousin and his friend from school. She practically skipped to the 'comfy chairs', a small section of chairs located near the children's section, and hopped into a seat. Oliver took a seat next to her, holding his hands together, hoping that there was nothing too crazy in that book.

Kristy, meanwhile, opened the book to the first page. "Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, 1867. His brother, Orville, was born on August 19, 1871. Wilbur and Orville had two older brothers. R...R..."

"Reuchlin and Lorin."[/color] Oliver provided helpfully, though it was noteworthy that he was not even looking at the words Kristy was reading as he said this. Kristy, in the middle of reading, thankfully failed to notice this.

"Roosh-lin and Lauren. Isn't Lauren a girl's name?"

By this point Oliver looked as though he was fit to burst with laughter. "Lauren is. Lorin isn't. The two names sound a bit different, if you say them. Laaaaaaauren. Looooorin."[/color]

"Laaaaaaaaaaauren. Loooooooorin."

"Good, you got it!"[/color] He looked over at Justice with a grin, resisting the urge he had to shake his head. He had a feeling this was going to be a long reading.

Word count: 821
To: Open!
Notes: Yeah, I'm taking words from an actual book I have, though it's titled different. XD Go figure.

While the inside jokes were fun, Oliver did feel a little bad for leaving Kristy out of the whole thing. Fortunately, Kristy wasn't all that phased. Her mind was on other things. Showing exactly how well she could read, for example, and wondering where Justice found his Goofy ears. In fact, she voiced her curiosity about the latter. "Where'd you get those ears? The Disney Store?"

Oliver, meanwhile, exchanged yet another knowing grin with Justice. "Yes, well, I'm sure we'll take it in stride if we do."[/color] Oliver hadn't been that upset when he went bald in his past life. It was sort of expected, really. His older brothers went bald before him, and he knew it was only a matter of time before the "curse" hit him. Genetics might be kinder to him this time around, however. His father's hair was only thinning out slightly at the top, and he was in his forties. Wilbur's hair was all but gone by the time he was thirty. Yay genetics?

Kristy's eyes widened as Justice posed what she believed was a very good question. "I never thought about that! Are Goofy and Pluto related?" It was a question that made sense to the six year old, seeing as they were both dogs. She didn't understand the evolution of the character, and why would she? She was only six. It wasn't as though she'd looked up the history of Disney animation, she just saw the cartoons and was entertained thoroughly.

That said, her question was posed to the most appropriate person to inquire to about Disney lore...

"I'll show you the bird when we get back to the house, okay Kristy? If your mom and dad aren't home by then, anyway."[/color] Even then, Kristy's family had come out to stay for a few days, so Oliver could probably still show his cousin the bird. Oliver couldn't help but smile at Justice's attempts at humoring Kristy, which Kristy responded to positively.

"That is a lot of brothers! I wonder what having a brother is like?" She mused out loud, not really expecting anyone to answer her question but wondering nonetheless. This made her kind of want a baby brother. She would ask her parents about that later. Oliver, meanwhile, simply smiled knowingly. He only had a sister in this life, so he couldn't say what was really going through his mind. However, he did shoot Justice a look when the other young man prodded Kristy along, saying that he wanted to know more about Orville.

Yeah, that was a jab at him. Oliver knew it.

"Their mother, Susan Wright, taught her children how to use tools and fix things. They learned to cook and sew too." Kristy beamed, realizing that she'd read every word of that without one error, then continued. This next part proved a bit challenging. "Their father, Milton Wright, was a min...mister?" She looked at both high schoolers and pointed to the word "minister" on the page, silently asking either of them for help on the pronunciation. Oliver stepped up to the plate once more.

"Minister. Like the guy who stands up in front when you're at church and talks a lot."[/color]

Kristy smiled in thanks, but was back to imploring her cousin for help soon after. "in the United..Bre...breathing church?" Oliver couldn't help but smile. "Brethren."[/color] He couldn't help but think that Kristy might have picked a book a bit too challenging for her age group, but decided not to say anything about it. Probably the right thing to do, as she continued to read without a hitch for the next few moments. On the next page, though, she came across another word that she had a hard time pronouncing. "Orv and Will built new and better heli...heli..."

"Bat."[/color] Oliver responded in a nonchalant tone, prompting a confused look from his cousin that Oliver failed to notice until he realized that Kristy stopped reading. The error he made hit him, and though he was highly tempted to do a facepalm, he decided to explain himself to the best of his ability. "Wilbur and Orville couldn't pronounce that word when they were kids either. So they called it a bat. I had to do a project on them in the sixth grade."[/color] He smiled at Kristy, meeting her eyes on this, as he wasn't lying. He did have to do a project on his past life in sixth grade. It was how he'd figured out he was a reincarnate in the first place. Yay for built in excuses? He wasn't so sure he wanted to look at Justice, who he was sure would probably shoot him a look for making such a slip. He knew Isa would if she was there.

"Orv even fiddled with one at school. He told his teacher he was making a flying machine. He might even build one big enough for him to fly in!" By this point, Kristy was giggling, and Oliver was turning a slight shade of red, knowing that everything about that paragraph still applied to him, and just knowing that Justice would probably have a comment about that, if Kristy did not.

Word count: 917
To: Open!
Notes: Maybe Oliver should just put duct tape over his mouth. That might solve the issue here. XD

Oliver was happy to see that Kristy just continued to smile and take things at face value. It was so much easier than having her ask questions at everything they said. The more questions they asked, the more of a chance he'd slip up and say something that would make Kristy look at him funny and bring it up to his parents and her parents. What would Ed and Judy say then? He'd supposedly grown out of this 'phase' when he was around Kristy's age.

Kristy beamed when Justice called her smart. "I've seen them at the Disney Store. That's how I knew." The Disney Store had a lot of merchandise that she wanted to buy. She wanted some of those ears herself. When she heard that Justice bought the ears at Disney Land instead, her eyes widened nearly into circles. "I wanna go to Disney Land! Or Disney World. They both sound fun! Have you been to both?"

Oliver, meanwhile, looked almost relieved. The subject was on Disney at the moment, which therefore meant that it was on Justice. Granted, it wasn't getting as into depth as their discussing on the Wright brothers was (only because Kristy was reading that book), but it was nice to have the subject off of him for a change. He relished in it, though decided to keep quiet. He knew the subject would come back to Kristy's book soon enough.

That said, he wouldn't entirely mind going to Disney Land or Disney World with her either...

He grinned as Justice offered an explanation of Goofy and Pluto. He raised an eyebrow at Justice as if to ask 'is that really what happened?' as Justice would know better than anyone. Then he looked down at Kristy, who seemed to be seriously considering the explanation. "That could be it..."

It was finally Oliver's turn to speak when Justice questioned him about the sketches. "Yes, I still have them. I've added a few touches on it to improve the aerodynamics."[/color] Oliver couldn't help but hope that there were no examples of his handwriting in the book that Kristy was reading, as Kristy might note that Orville Wright's handwriting was very much similar to her cousin's. Then a whole different problem would present itself.

Oliver let out a small sigh of relief when Justice explained about his brother, Journey. Oliver had met the boy once before, at work. He'd been on a shopping trip with Sylent. He could see the similarities between Justice and Journey, at least where looks were concerned, although of course Journey did not have the blue hair. Yet. Kristy, meanwhile, had to address this at once. "Does he have blue hair too?" Both she and Oliver had brown hair, after all. Though Cindy's hair was different than hers and Oliver, so not all family members always had the same hair color. Still, it was worth an ask. Oliver, meanwhile, chuckled.

Oliver spotted the look that Justice shot him, and glanced back down at the book that Kristy was reading, the words blurring together on the pages as his mind was on other things. He did catch the pictures of himself and Wilbur as young boys on the page, and he closed his eyes as he recalled the day those pictures were taken.

His eyes shot back open at 'I bet his teacher thought he was crazy'. The smile that was on his face was replaced by a frown, then a puzzled expression as Justice asked Kristy if she would fly in the first flying machine. He suddenly became more fascinated with his watch, playing around with the buttons on it before hearing an excited Yes! from Kristy.

Suddenly, Oliver looked away from his watch. "I don't think they would have let you on there at first, though. Maybe after they flew on it for a few years, to make sure they worked all of the kinks out. They wouldn't take a little girl up unless they were sure it was safe for her."[/color] He smiled and reached over, squeezing Kristy on the shoulder as Kristy continued to grin. Oliver, meanwhile, had a faraway look in his eyes as he thought about the first time that he took three of his nieces up. He indeed waiting until he considered it safe enough to take them up, and the girls, by then in their early teens, were thrilled. This whole experience was bittersweet to Oliver, and though he wasn't sure what would come next, he prodded Kristy to continue reading.

Kristy, of course, obliged, having no problem with this. She'd only messed up on a few words after all! "Will teased Orv when he said words the wrong way. He made Kate cry by making faces at her." Kristy frowned, looking up from the book. "That seems kinda mean..."

Oliver, meanwhile, was laughing. "No, Kristy, that's called having a sibling."[/color] He was partially laughing at Kristy's innocence when it came to sibling rivalry...but moreso laughing at the fact that Wilbur's transgressions didn't go completely unaddressed by Orville. While Oliver's memories of the incidents were not all that clear (owing to the fact that he'd been only three or four at the time they happened), he knew that on at least one occasion, he'd gone after Wilbur with a rock.

Kristy continued. "Orv mostly wanted to tinker - to take things apart and put them back together." She giggled at once, looking directly at Oliver. "He sounds like you!" Oliver, meanwhile, chuckled nervously. "He kind of does, doesn't he?"[/color] He hoped this would be sufficient enough to play Kristy off. Would Kristy really suspect anything out of this? It was highly unlikely. Still, Oliver looked none too comfortable at the way Kristy continued to giggle.

Word count: 1001
To: Open!
Notes: Long posts for the win. XD

Oliver watched with a smile at Kristy's excitement. "I haven't been to either. I've been to other parks, though. Sea World was my favorite."

From the way Justice and Kristy talked, he almost wanted to go to Disney Land or World himself. Justice and his company had really done a number on creating those parks. They might have been primarily aimed at children, but people of all ages could enjoy such theme parks. Had Oliver known that Justice wanted to take a class trip to one of the Disney parks, he'd probably be behind it...for the most part. The last class trip RSOR had gone on had gone very strangely, after all. While he highly doubted he'd find himself in his old body at Disneyland or Disney World, it was still...intriguing.

The subject changed to hair at this point. Oliver grinned as Justice listed off the various hair colors of members of his family, while Kristy hung on to every word. "Maybe your great grandma ate a rainbow..." Kristy commented in childish awe. She was serious too, as if this did indeed explain how one family could have so many hair colors. It was also clear by this that Kristy did have a basic understanding that certain traits were passed on through families, though she clearly didn't understand the mechanisms in their entirety. Then again, men and women much older and more educated than she were still working on the intricate details of that mystery.

Kristy's hand went to her mouth in shock. "Brown? Really? Why did it turn blue like in the cartoons?" She wasn't thinking of dye at this point. Oliver was tempted to shake his head, but instead held his hand to his mouth as if he were surprised at Justice's revelation as well. In reality, he was trying to hide the huge grin that came across his face. He didn't want it to look like he was laughing at Kristy, after all. Especially when she was being so darn cute.

Oliver nodded when Justice agreed with him. "Especially not their nieces and nephews, who I'm sure they were quite fond of."[/color] And indeed they were, much in the same way that Oliver was of Kristy. Though at the same time, he didn't feel like he could 100% be himself around Kristy, which was posing a small problem and leading to several awkward situations. It didn't help that she was reading that book, to be sure. He'd be less cautious if she weren't using his past name and asking questions about his past life every other sentence.

Which was why Oliver glanced up at once when Justice raised the suggestion of ice cream. He knew this suggestion was not for nothing, especially considering the pull of ice cream on most six year olds. Sure enough, Kristy closed up her book at once. "Mmm, ice cream!" She responded, licking her lips in an exaggerated fashion.

Oliver, meanwhile? Let out a sigh of relief. Though it was an audible one, Kristy in her excitement failed to notice. "I could go for some ice cream myself."[/color] He rose to his feet. While Kristy was preoccupied with getting up herself, Oliver meanwhile met Justice's gaze and nodded in a way that almost certainly suggested 'I owe you one'. He looked back at Kristy, who still had her book in her hand, and smiled. "You know, I think today's a nice enough day that we might be able to eat outside too!"[/color] The difference in Oliver was noticeable almost straight away. He seemed a lot more comfortable now.

Word count: 1001
To: Open!
Notes: Long posts for the win. XD

Though Oliver wasn't actively participating in the conversation, he was happy that Justice and Kristy were talking animatedly with each other. It gave him the necessary time to sort through his own thoughts. He knew Kristy reading the book in question would be an awkward experience, though he didn't realize just how much. It was one thing to read about yourself...well, yourself. It was another to hear your six year old cousin read about your past life with childish innocence, completely unaware that she was in fact reading about your first childhood, the one that you missed so badly in your second childhood that you went so far as to ask your biological mother in this life if you were adopted.

It bothered Oliver still that he had a hard time getting along with his parents in this life. He knew the reasons why, but they weren't suitable to him. Then again, there would never be a suitable enough excuse for Oliver, who in his past life was told that family was one's only refuge. If all else failed, one could rely on their family. He wasn't supposed to feel odd around his parents in this life. He wasn't supposed to feel like they weren't his parents. He was supposed to regard them the same way he'd regarded Susan and Milton Wright - separate, though equal. He didn't, though. Susan and Milton were held on a higher pedestal than Judy and Ed. It was a source of much inner frustration to Oliver, and though he pushed it aside most of the time, Kristy's readings only served to bring it to the forefront.

"No, I didn't see Flounder. I'll look for him next time I go, though! Maybe he went on vacation to Disneyland instead." The idea that a cartoon fish would go on vacation still made sense to Kristy. Her eyes lit up when Justice played along, though she didn't see it as that. She saw it as her, a six year old girl, coming up with a brilliant idea that a boy more than twice as old as her hadn't. She beamed. "You should ask her what a rainbow tastes like! I've always kinda wondered, but mom and daddy say I can't eat them."

Oliver cracked a smile at this. "Of course you can! What do you think Skittles are?"[/color] It was stated in a lower tone than usual for Oliver, betraying that he wasn't 100% 'in sorts', so to speak, but he was pulled out of his thoughts to make a joke, which was a good start.

Kristy's eyes went almost perfectly round at this. "So that's what they mean by 'taste the rainbow'!"

Oliver had to inhale deeply to keep himself from laughing, which resulted in a coughing fit. Kristy shot him a concerned look, but he recovered before she could ask if he was alright. Fortunately, she remained none the wiser about the true reason why Oliver was coughing.

"That could be. I don't know if I'd want my hair to turn blue, but I could try something for Halloween!" Of course, hair dye would probably work a lot better for that purpose, and her mother and father would probably tell her as such. Still, it was a fun theory to propose for the moment.

Oliver nodded. "Especially after you did such a good job! I'm thinking a hot fudge sundae myself."[/color] In fact, Oliver was a little surprised that Justice suggested ice cream, seeing as he was vegan, but he figured that Justice had something in mind. Not to mention most places that served food were pretty versatile nowadays, what with all the sensitivities and allergies that floated about. He watched as Kristy ran up to the counter quickly to pay for her book, then came running back to them, carrying herself proudly at the fact that she'd paid all by herself. Oliver grabbed Kristy by the hand to make sure that he had a hold on her, then walked out of the shop and looked down the street.

"Dairy Queen, maybe?"[/color] What town didn't have a Dairy Queen?

Word count: 707
To: Open!
Notes: I'm thirsty. 0.o