TAKE THE SKY

[constant]

M A D E . Y O U . L O O K

"Oh, I dunno, I kinda like it! Whatcha think?"

...Eh.

"Don't be like that. It's gorgeous!" Constant, known around town as just "Genie," beamed at his handiwork, a paintbrush stuck behind his ear and dangerously close to dripping blue paint on his shoulder. In thick, wet letters scrawled across a white banner he'd stolen from Classic's art room read "FLYING LESSONS FOR ALL AGES!" And in smaller lettering beneath it, "Must Host A Character That Can Fly". Didn't want any accidents, now.

The Genie approved Constant's sign and with a happy sort of laugh he bounded to the gates of Tolgey Park, stuck it with magic to the iron bars and stood back. He'd been advertising these lessons for days now, making announcements in the town bulletin and putting signs up on every telephone pole and lamppost he could find. He was excited about it, even if whoever plays host to Aladdin wouldn't likely show up (it's not like Aladdin can fly or anything). It was just nice to do something that benefited the town... and it was just good to get out of the Academy every now and again. If it was one thing Constant and Genie hated, it was being confined.

But hey, that's okay buddy, we'll find him, the Genie sympathized, mentally patting Constant on the back and bringing to mind the good times he and Aladdin had. Well, the good times that didn't involve fighting and hiding and such. Actually, come to think of it (and the both of them winced a little at the realization), the good times were a bit few and far between. But enough of that! Let's make some magic! The Genie cried, and Constant agreed with a whoop and a jump. "LET'S GET THIS THING STARTED, MEMORY!" Constant shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth and gesturing to the sign with his head. "I CAN'T 'HANG' AROUND ALL DAY! GET IT? 'HANG?'" He grinned stupidly as he floated a couple inches off the ground, hanging in the air.

People passing in the streets groaned while he and the Genie laughed to themselves. Well, they thought it was an excellent way to start a Saturday afternoon, anyhow.

[mashik]

Flying lessons... Maybe if he could figure this out, his spirit would awaken. Ambers had seen and heard plenty about the public lessons that Genie was going to give and he was determined to go to the lesson and hopefully to learn something. If he didn't actually get to fly, well... that would suck, but it could be worse. At least he could get to know the teacher and, who knew, maybe the older male could help him discover the spirit within.

Once it was about time for the lesson to start, the teen had headed out of his dorm toward the park. He honestly wasn't entirely sure about this town as a whole yet. It had taken a lot of effort for his parents to let him come here, but it had been so strange ever since. People that transformed into animals? Others that had strange powers... and all due to spirits from kid's movies? It was all hard to take in, even after a year of being here.

He gave a few polite nods to people he passed on the way to the park, but didn't actually know anyone quite well enough to make a point to "converse" with them. The task was difficult enough as it was, having to type what he wanted to actually say in most cases. People who knew sign language were few and far between and half the time were deaf -- which he was incredibly grateful not to be so unfortunate to also be.

Making it to the park, he blinked. Well... as if the signs around town and the school weren't enough, that sign was hardly ignorable. Focusing his attention on Genie, he smiled and waved. At the moment, he didn't feel it was necessary to say anything, really, so he left the greeting at that. The teacher looked to be about his age -- or at least that's how he imagined it -- and quite alike in appearance. Ambers was just... less outstanding, his hair being a fairly normal color. Still, he liked Genie and under other circumstances, might have had a crush... or maybe he did even still.

[vanisher]

Flash had no idea why he returned to the park the very next day after meeting that tall, lanky weirdo known as John. But, he did just the same. But, seriously what was with him and this damned park? Him simply going there was asking for trouble. I mean already he had been bullied by two people, so why even risk a possible second encounter with the two? Well, there was one thing. If the rumors were correct, a certain individual called, Genie was giving free flying lessons in the park that day. Now this intrigued him. But, what intrigued him the most was the fact the individual's name was Genie. He learned rather quickly from his last encounter with shere that names around here may not be coincidental. If he literally is the genie's host then he is an even bigger fool than he thought! To use one's character's name outright like that in a town filled possibly with those who hate the genie, really dumb indeed.

That is to say the flying lessons themselves didn't interest him, but no that too definitely caught his attention. It's just the fact that he may be about to meet Aladdin's genie caught his interest even more.

So with curiousity once again leading the way, the young college student headed back to the park. He didn't have to look around for very long for the very teaching spot for his eyes were blinded by a rather large, obnoxious sign written in bright, blue paint and sure enough there his...teacher was floating in front of it.

Admittedly, Flash was amongst those passerby who groaned and rolled their eyes at the floating man. Flash just couldn't believe it! This guy...just looking at him, he knew he just had to be the genie. No doubt about it. His actual name was Genie. He could fly and he had freakin' blue hair. Yep, he had to be genie, but now that he found him...perhaps even before Aladdin, just what was he going to do about it? As Flash stood there, thinking about it, he saw that another person apparantly also wanting lessons was already there.

Flash just smiled as politely as he could at the uh...woman er um man or whatever. Honestly as embarassing as it was, Flash couldn't tell if this other kid was a guy or a girl. I mean he looked feminine and yet... Oh just forget it, I'll just ask for his name. That should answer it. So he extended his hand for the other to shake. "Hey, I'm Flash. You here for the lessons too? So...what's your name?" Flash asked, trying not to seem too nosy.

[constant]

M A D E . Y O U . L O O K

Constant laughed a little crazily as the citizens of Memory shook their heads at him and his antics. They were used to him, to be fair, but Genie was doing a damn fine job with the flair and colors and really, really bad puns today. Pay zem no mind, Constant darleeng. Zey 'ave non appreciation for zee arts, The Genie slurred in his snootiest French accent and mentally pointed to the "great work of art" that was Con's sign. Constant only laughed in response and fell a bit heavily to the ground, bending his knees to absorb impact.

Taking the paintbrush out from behind his ear, Constant vanished it and turned to gaze out at the people of Memory. Already a small little group had gathered outside the gates of the park, among them a few kids and preteens, some students Genie had had in class this past opening week at school, and some adults, though Genie knew they had just come to heckle those who couldn't fly right away. It was to the hecklers Genie addressed himself first. "HEY! Yah lousy bunch of Card Soldiers, yer just jealous you can't fly!" And with that, Con magicked a pack of cards into his palm, smiled, and sent them flying at the hosts of the Card Soldiers from Alice in Wonderland. Atta boy.

The antagonistic group dispersed and Genie welcomed in the group he'd be teaching to fly. He saw a few kids he recognized from class, and one, Ambers, as Con recalled, smiled and waved at him. Constant winked back but kept the crowd moving further into the park, pointing past the ring of trees and into a clearing (where hopefully there would be less injuries). But one man stayed a bit behind, introducing himself to Ambers, so Con waved quickly at the two of them. "Yeah yeah, we'll get to introductions in a minute. C'mon, if you're here for the flying thing, go join the group over by the mats."

Constant? Oh, Constant dear?

Yeees?

No mats.

Constant looked behind him. Oh. Look at that. No mats.

"The mats," he repeated, facing the two of them again with a smile, a row of five mats appearing in the clearing, blue and bright as his hair. Constant returned his hand to his pocket after doing that (possibly flashy?) bit of magic, the gold bracelet sliding up on his wrist. "Go on then, Ambers, ... aaand..." Constant turned to the other man and squinted an eye at him. "Dunno your name yet. That's weird. I know everyone. You must be new. Well go on, then, Newbie, go join the rest," he gestured his student and the older man over to the clearing, but stayed by the gates for a moment to see if anyone else would be joining them. Constant watched them make their way over to the other side of the park, though admittedly his gaze lingered a little on Ambers.

Your student, The Genie reminded him, and Constant quickly turned his head back around. Yeah, 'course. I know.

[mashik]

Ambers was, of course, quick to respond to Flash with a smile and to shake his hand. However, the questions were a little beyond his ability to quickly answer. How he hated this awkward stage trying to explain his difficulties... As he heard Constant speak, he looked up and nodded. For a moment, of course, he was a bit confused by the mats statement, but grinned at the conjuration of such things. He would probably never get over the magic aspect of it all. Of course... maybe he'd be able to do that? Nah... a good magician had to be able to speak.

As his name was mentioned along with Genie's confusion about the other man's identification, the teen gestured as if to say 'There, now you know my name.' Then he proceeded toward the magicked mats, reaching into his pocket to withdraw his little artificial "voice box". He typed in it quickly before holding it up toward Flash.

*Hello. I am Ambers. I am mute, sorry for the awkward silence.* It quickly announced in a very monotone, mechanical, but very masculine voice. One could hope that the voice on such a device could be chosen... After all, a female with the same voice coming from her device would be rather awkward on many levels.

He hadn't noticed the look from Constant; he'd already assumed long before this that he didn't have a chance... and even if he did, he didn't want to get Genie in trouble with the school or anything like that. Instead, he typed another message in the little gadget.

*But yes, I am here for the lessons. I am not sure who my spirit is, but speculations from the faculty suggest it is the magic carpet from Aladdin. Nice to meet you, Flash. Who is your spirit?* Maybe he shouldn't have been so open about "speculations" but he didn't really see any harm in it. After all, what's the worst that could happen...?

[vanisher]

From the corner of his eye, Flash watched boredly as Genie shooed the antagonistic group of people away. To show how unimpressed he was, he let out a little yawn. Totally cheating to use one's abilities like that. Really, does this guy want trouble to find him? No doubt if John really was Jafar, he'd no doubt want to possess the genie. 'So not my problem,' Flash thought. I'm just here to see if the genie can help me learn how to fly, so I can maybe get out of here. So let us see if he can teach better than he can hide his inner character.

But when Genie magically made some bright blue mats appear (hardly neccessary) Flash had to groan. Although, he had to admit it was pretty cool seeing mats appear out of nowhere, just a bit much for Flash's tastes. Flash glanced nervously around, half expecting someone like John to be watching. 'I would find the genie before anyone else,' he thought.

It was then he heard Genie telling them to go towards the mats, so with a shrug he followed Ambers towards them. Ambers? Was that a guy's name or a girl's name? Flash couldn't tell, but thankfully the...boy finally spoke only he didn't speak like everyone else. No, he communicated using some sort of minuture electronic translator. Despite the mechanical tone coming from the little device, Flash had to smile, relieved in at last knowing for sure what gender this kid was. Definitely a guy. Well, thank god that awkward bit was out of the way.

"Hey, Ambers it's okay...the awkwardness I mean. I mean I've been have a most awkward week so far, so this...this is nothing compared to what I've been thru. I...I really shouldn't get into it," he reassured. But, Flash's smile vanished and he abruptly stopped following the other towards the mats and just quietly stood there not knowing how to answer Ambers question without giving his identity away. 'He...he's the freakin' carpet! I...I don't believe it! I...found two other Aladdin characters, the magical Aladdin characters and...and I don't know what to do about it! I mean I suppose I should at least try to be...civil with them, but like do I just leave them be or...' It was then Flash started to get mad not neccesarily at Ambers, but at his own self. 'Stupid character, wake up already you lazy ball of feathers! I don't know what to do!' Flash thought, yelling at his unawakened character.

So after a few long moments of inner turmoil, Flash looked back at Ambers and walked over to him. "Um, well uh my character definitely can fly hehe that's for damn sure otherwise why...why would I be here...learning to fly? My character is uh..." 'Don't lie, whatever you do don't lie it'll just make things worse. Finally he smiled and said the most noble thing he could think of, "I'm Peter Pan. Yes sir I am Peter Pan." 'Doh, you idiot, you just lied and not only that, but that's gotta be the dumbest lie you could possibly have come up with!' Flash scolded himself while forcing himself to keep a straight face. But Flash was a terrible liar for already he started to sweat just as he did when he lied to Shere Khan. Glancing over at the mats he added, "so uh can't wait to get started. Can you?"

He then remembered the genie was standing over by them, so smiling he said, "oh, I'm Flash and yes I am new to Maine. Quite a place you guys have here. I uh I attend the local college I'm a Sophmore. It's...it's definitely different, but I like it. So um I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but," his yellow eyes fell upon the man's golden arm bracelets, "you...you're the genie, aren't you? From Aladdin I mean. You gotta be. You know you might want to tone stuff down a bit."

[constant]

M A D E . Y O U . L O O K

Constant kept welcoming people into the park who were here for the lessons, a smile plastered on his face the whole time. Heeey, this is gonna be good! The Genie exclaimed, doing a little dance in his head which made Con laugh. Definitely, he replied quickly when three more kids, about middle to high school age, filed in and ran towards the gathering crowd. It was of modest size, really, maybe fifteen or so people, but that was good enough. Even if no one managed to lift themselves off the ground today, at least they'd all have a good time.

Behind him, though, Constant could hear Ambers and Flash, as it was, still talking. Constant poked his head outside the gate to see if any stragglers were going to show up, but, seeing no one else walking his way, he shrugged his shoulders and turned around to get the thing started. He followed a little ways behind Flash and Ambers (Flash was still talking), and Con couldn't help but overhear that last comment.

"I'm Peter Pan. Yes sir, I am Peter Pan."

Brother I have met Peter Pan and he ain't no Peter Pan, mmm! The Genie said with all the attitude of a Valley Girl, effectively collapsing Con into a fit of silent giggles. It was lucky for him they hadn't seen him, or Flash might be offen -- Oh.

"Oh, I'm Flash and yes I'm new to Maine..." The man began, and Constant sort came to fumbling halt where he was, quickly trying to pull a straight face. But then his eyes grew wide (and a bit vacant) while Flash rattled on for some time. Guy's got quite a beak on 'im, The Genie observed with an equally stunned attitude, and Constant only nodded vaguely. "Yeah, hey," was all he said in return, then he stuck his arms out and sort of herded the two of them towards the group. It was then Flash's eye caught on Con's identical bracelets, and his next comment had Con actually giggling this time.

"Boy, you are new in town!" Connie laughed as the three of them finally reached the circle of people gathered around the safety mats. Of course he was the Genie... Constant really didn't think he could be any more obvious. And everyone in town was aware of this fact, as he wasn't the only one who didn't hide his spirit. Those Card Soldiers, for one, were a group of mindless thugs who liked to use their spirits to pick on kids, and Con knew some other minor characters who had no problem showing off their characters. Why should he be ashamed? Why should he tone it down? He had nothing to hide.

Con left the two of them to fall into the group while he took position in front of them. He smiled widely and threw out his arms in welcome and said, "Alright! Glad you guys made it!" Dropping his arms, though, he added, "But I know for a fact that you two can't fly. Kevin, Spencer, beat it." Two boys dropped out of line and ran off, laughing, making Constant smile. "So anyway, welcome and stuff! This is the first of probably, like, four or five classes, 'cause I hardly expect you all to get it in one day. That would be amazing, though, so definitely prove me wrong." Constant grinned and clapped his hands once, rubbing them together. "Uh, let's start off with names and spirits, yeah? We'll go down the line and introduce ourselves, and don't be shy about your character! I mean we're all gonna find out who you are anyway, so let's be honest." But Constant, you already know who everyone's charac -- "I'll start," Constant interrupted his own thoughts. "I'm Genie," he said in a very obvious way, making those who already knew who he was laugh. "And I'm playing host to The Genie from Aladdin." Then he pointed to the far end of the line to continue the introductions.

After meeting two Tolgey Wood birds from Alice in Wonderland, a small flock of sparrows from Bambi and the woodpecker from The Fox and the Hound, Genie lighted upon Flash. "And you're... Peter Pan, right?" He grinned and laughed.

[mashik]

The teen slowly raised an eyebrow as more and more was said. At the claim that he was Peter Pan and the following reaction, all Ambers could do was nod and open his mouth just slightly as if he was trying to say 'Uh huh...' However, he made no real comment besides this action, not wanting to confront the awkward reaction Flash seemed to give to nearly everything he said. He seemed nervous... but maybe he was just always like that? Dust had no idea, so he decided to not comment at all.

However, when he mentioned hardly being able to wait, the teen smiled and nodded in agreement. Immediately following, he shook his head to indicate that he couldn't wait, either. Realizing the confusion this could easily cause, he simply made a laughing motion. No sound actually came out, but his actions alone should have been enough to give away what noise he would have made if he could. Without his spirit being awake, he doubted he'd actually be able to fly just yet... but starting to learn now was awesome. At least then he was almost guaranteed to be able to fly when it did awaken.

Suddenly he realized he was being ushered toward the rest of the group by the blue-haired teacher. To be honest, he hadn't actually even realized he had ostracized himself and Flash from the moderately sized group that had shown up. As the introductions began, he tried to peer over at the people. Then Constant pointed out "Peter Pan" and the teen couldn't help but smirk. Maybe he was Pan... but something made Ambers doubt it. He waited to introduce himself, wanting to see the reaction from the older male.

[vanisher]

"Boy, you are new in town!" were the genie's words, which cause Flash's face to turn bright red, obviously embarassed. He sort of looked away from the genie, apparently lost in thought. "Oh, I never doubted you were genie. It's just you have so many enemies and...it would be most unfortunate if you were to have a run in with one of them or all of them. I just think it wise for someone...like you to be a bit more...hidden and secretive lest you'll get in trouble," Flash warned. Then smiling, he turned back and looked him in the eye. "But, hey what do I know? I'm just some out of town college student," he said shrugging innocently.

Flash glanced over at Ambers who was making an obvious gesture that he too was excited about learning to fly. But as Flash watched his movements, he began to feel...strange. He could almost swear that he understood everything the mute was trying to tell him. Flash smiled at him and made a slight error in how he answered. "It's okay, I have yet to fully awaken my character too. But when we do, we'll both be able to fly," Flash reassured. Little did Flash know just how close he was to fully awakening Iago. After all, in the movies, Iago seemed to understand Carpet as much as Genie.

But his smile vanished as the genie went down the line, asking everyone to admit their Disney character. Suddenly Flash felt sick and bent over, acting like he was about to throw up. He quickly straightened himself up when it was his turn. 'Oh no,' he thought when his turn came. "And you're... Peter Pan, right?" the genie asked causing Flash to sweat even more. 'He knew?' He thought, upset. Flash gulped. Taking a sideways glance at Ambers and he knew the other doubted his...Peter Panness as well, which caused Flash to scowl a bit. 'It isn't funny!' Flash unconsciously gestured back to Ambers. Weird thing was Flash didn't even notice he was gesturing as he never learned how to make such gestures with his body before. Flash should have seen this as a sign that his inner character was about to be awakened.

Flash, agitated stuck his hands on his hips as he thought hard about how to answer the genie when it was only too obvious the other caught him in a lie. Clearing his throat he decided to...try something. "You're astonishingly perspective even for a genie," Flash said sarcastically, mimicking Jafar's voice. Flash had to struggle to keep a straight face. Now this...this was funny not to mention fun to do. Okay, so it was mean of him to continue to lie and trick the genie like that, but hey he just had to do it. No doubt the genie will definitely know he is not Peter Pan after hearing Jafar's voice come from him. 'But, I wonder if he will think I am Jafar now,' Flash thought not realizing the genie already knew who Jafar's host was and therefore would know he was not him. In fact, Flash seemed blissfully unaware that what he just did practically screamed, 'Iago.' But how could he have known? He was new there.

[constant]

M A D E . Y O U . L O O K

"Ew, gross dude. Try not to be sick all over the place, I was just kidding." Constant's nose wrinkled a little and he took a step back, but then Flash straightened, looking slightly less panicked. Jeez, I almost feel bad, Constant thought to The Genie, who flatly replied Don't. I know who that is. Even before he... Well, watch.

And then Flash didn't sound like Flash anymore, and Constant looked more than a little surprised at the sudden transformation (not to mention The Genie's scarily accurate prediction of the immediate future. That was a new trick). No, Flash's voice suddenly took on the same tone and timber of Jafar from the Disney movie. Think I'll just... The Genie's voice quickly cut short and there was nothing but silence after that, and the images The Genie was reliving in Constant's head were not making him feel like flying high. In fact, Constant wasn't liking this dude so much now that he knew he was trying to intimidate him.

Of course, it was also a dead give away. The Genie didn't even need to bring up images of the small, mouthy parrot for Con to get the message.

People further down the line snickered at Flash's imitation of the notorious villain and Genie's less than positive reaction to it. Constant glanced at them all for a second before stepping forward towards Flash. "Not cool, man." Con's voice was low so as not to make much of a scene, but the delay in the proceedings was obvious. "So not cool." He gave him a look and then returned to face the group again.

"Seems I'll take it for you," Con said loudly, addressing the whole group, the smile back on his face. "This guy's Flash, and his spirit is Iago from Aladdin." A few people gasped, a few people glared... After all, Iago was for the most part a villain. But Constant didn't want to give the impression that he thought Flash was a villain (despite his less than appealing first impression), so he continued with the last person to be introduced.

He pointed at Ambers with flat hand, palm up, as if to say it was his turn. But before Ambers had the chance to speak, Con wanted to ask him something. Privately. Iago's presence unnerved The Genie and that left Constant feeling conflicted. And having been part of the faculty that suggested the Carpet as Ambers' spirit, Con knew he'd at least be on his side.

"What do you think, Ambers? About Iago?" Constant thought silently into Ambers' head. All Ambers would have to do is think his answer back to him and The Genie would interpret it from there... That is, if he would ever calm down.

[mashik]

Ambers couldn't help but snicker a little at the proceedings. It was, of course, less of an actual snicker and instead the gesture as if he was. 'Oh, but it is,' he felt like he was responding. It was rather strange... being able to communicate with this man with little to no effort. But then his imitation of Jafar caught the boy off guard. He remembered, somewhere in the back of his head, going through a quite unpleasant sensation of being pulled apart... being unraveled. Although he couldn't pinpoint this exact memory more than being just his reminiscence of the movie, his heart began to race out of fear.

When Genie expressed, even quietly, his lack of being impressed, Dusty felt like recoiling slightly. Seeing Constant so displeased was... unpleasant to say the least. Finally, the truth was told by the blue-haired man and the teen felt both slightly confused but relieved. It wasn't Jafar... well that was comforting. But Iago... He just peered at Flash for a long moment, even as he heard the question in his head. It took a moment before he lifted a hand and patted the would-be-bird's head, ruffling his hair with a small smile. 'Creep... Scared the hell out of me.'

Despite what he was clearly portraying, he didn't seem all too upset. Finally looking back to Constant, he gave a slight nod and finally realized that he hadn't introduced himself. Pulling up his gadget again, he began to type away before holding it up. *My name is Ambers or Dusty, whichever you prefer,* it announced to the group. *Although my spirit has yet to awaken, some of the high school faculty think that it could be Carpet from Aladdin.*

"He's okay," Ambers projected his thoughts as well as he could toward the teacher. "Iago never seemed particularly evil to me... He was just Jafar's wingman -- bad joke -- and I think we can possibly veer him away from his generic role but ostracizing him now would make that nearly impossible." The idea of keeping the parrot away from his known role in the movie seemed like a difficult task, even as the teen mentioned it, but he knew he had to try it... Flash wasn't a bad guy.

[vanisher]

Watching the genie's less than thrilled reaction to Flash's little mimicry of Jafar, Flash just smirked when the genie mentioned that it wasn't cool of him to mimic Jafar to which Flash merely shrugged and said, "It was a compliment. Not my problem if you can't take compliments. I suppose if you would have preferred me saying something nasty to you, I would have. But, gee that wouldn't have been very nice, so I didn't. You should be grateful to that." Flash looking back at Ambers noticed what he was gesturing, glared at him, fists clenched. "No it isn't!" He just yelled back over to him not bothering to use body language instead. He noticed some other people were just snickering and Flash just sort of smiled back at them, looking pleased for frightening the genie. He was not the least bit sorry and it showed.

But his pleased look didn't last when the genie called out his character in front of everyone. Flash just sort of scowled at him before his eyes fell to the ground in defeat. 'Stupid genie! It won't be long now before everyone in this little town discovers I'm Iago. Let's see so far Shere Khan, Jafar, and now the stupid genie and flying carpet knows who my character is. Great just great. Who's next to find me out, I wonder?'

And to make matters worse people were glaring and gasping at him. 'So much for being the popular class comedian, now everyone hates me. And why? It's all thanks to that interfering genie that's why.' Then Flash thought, 'no wonder Jafar hates genies. They always have to interfere with everything you do and they are so god damn nosy.'

As the genie continued along the line towards Ambers, Flash spoke, "it's not my fault you know. I never asked to be this...character and I haven't even unlocked him yet." Flash couldn't even say the bird's name. He didn't want to. He hated admitting it. Flash then just shrugged innocently.

Flash looked up just in time to notice Ambers petting him on the head. Flash just cringed as he did not enjoy being touched. 'Really what does this guy think I am anyway? Some type of pet? Well, obviously he now knows I'm Iago, but still I'm not a bird! I'm just as human as he is and deserve to be treated as such,' Flash thought to himself.

But Flash had to chuckle at Ambers' reaction to him being Iago. 'Creep... Scared the hell out of me.' Was what the teen gestured. It definitely seemed he was not at all afraid of him. Flash had to smile at that. Straightening himself up, he gestured back, 'tis my speciality to cause the bravest of men to become wary with my deceptive voice.'

[constant]

M A D E . Y O U . L O O K

Constant's gaze was set on Ambers while the boy spoke to him (well, spoke, thought, whatever). He had a point... Picking on Iago was probably not going to do the guy in favors, or win him over to boot. Kid's right, Constant. We probably don't need any enemies. The Genie pointed out, and between the two of them, Dusty and The Genie, Constant had to agree with their conclusion. Even if Flash did rub him the wrong way.

"Alright, thanks guys!" Constant said in a chipper sort of voice, and subtly nodded at Ambers to acknowledge his reply. He turned to the group at large, standing with his legs apart on the center mat, and clapped his hands to get their attention back. "Looks like we've got a pretty mixed group here," he started when two more people ran up to the group and announced they were Scuttle and Orville, a couple more birds. "Oh. Well I say mixed. You're all pretty much all birds except Ambers here." Constant scratched at the back of his neck, thinking of how he could do this. "Huh. Okay let's do it this way. All awakened birds to this side of the mats," he pointed behind him, "and unawakened characters stay put."

The group split up, most of them walking past Constant to get to the other side of the mats, though a few stayed where they were. Orville and a Tolgey Wood bird stayed along with Flash and Ambers, so now Connie had to give different instructions. "Uh," he started blankly for a minute. "Oh. Oh, yeah, okay, you guys," he pointed to the people whose spirits had yet to awaken, "get together and try discussing your characters, and how they would fly. You know, with wings, hovering, magic, whatever. To start I think you've gotta just figure out the logistics of it. I'll come to help you all in a minute." Constant waved them together like go on, start talking, then turned and walked across the mats to the other group.

The other group of awakened birds was going to be far easier, like teaching baby birds how to fly. He asked the group to change into their spirit forms, and suddenly sparrows and woodpeckers and the like appeared before him. He too changed into a bright blue songbird and started giving a demonstration of the proper technique for wing-flapping, but he couldn't help but look over at the other group once or twice... Just to see how they were all getting on.

[mashik]

'My, my, you have quite the mood swings,' Ambers observed of the other unawakened Aladdin character. It was rather amusing to the teen just how Flash was reacting to everything, even if he was mostly unhappy about everything that happened. The poor man couldn't seem to figure out if he should be angry at Genie or proud of himself, it seemed.

For now, he waited to say anything more to Flash. He had to pay attention to the teacher's instructions. The group split up and Dust blinked. They had to talk about how their characters would fly... and yet he was the only non-bird in the group so he'd likely be the center of the conversation. Reaching up to rub the back of his head as he watched Constant transform, he turned to Flash and the others left in his group. Typing in his little gadget, he turned to Flash.

*I did not ask to be Carpet, either. Maybe if I were not, I would have been born with a voice and never gotten picked on,* it explained quietly. Apparently the teen could control the volume of his voice box, though it didn't seem it would work well as a whisper. He just didn't want to exclaim his statement to everyone there. Withdrawing it once it had finished, he typed away again and presented it to the group.

*I think it is fairly obvious that I am the odd one out,* it paused. *But Carpet seems to fly with magic. How that magic works is up to anyone to guess.* Even he really had no idea what kind of magic made the magic carpet fly in the movie... After all, they hadn't seen how it was made. They merely saw him doing it... and lifting multiple people at that. Which made him wonder if he'd transform and be able to do the same thing or if he'd just fly in his current form. In which case... could he carry even one person through the air?

[vanisher]

Hearing the genie's order, Flash, sighing just stayed behind. Flash couldn't believe it, but the genie didn't even comment on what Flash had told him about how it wasn't his fault that he is Iago. Sure, it was just like a genie to not bring it up again. He had no idea of the...head conversation the genie had shared with Ambers. Flash just assumed the genie was just going to ignore him and go on. The genie walked over to the awakened character group, leaving an offended Flash behind with Ambers and other birds.

After watching him walk off, Flash saw him transform into a bright blue bird. He sighed. 'And of course he did... Hell, I'm surprised he doesn't run around with a bright red flashing button on his shirt that says, 'hey Jafar I'm the genie!' Flash had to laugh at the thought. The image of that was just so damn funny to him.

But then the flying carpet had to distract his thoughts further. *I did not ask to be Carpet, either. Maybe if I were not, I would have been born with a voice and never gotten picked on,* Were the words Ambers typed into his little gadget. 'Oh no he didn't!' Flash thought to himself. 'He did not just use the whole whoa as me I was picked on as a little kid because I was different line. Pity me.' With a twich of his eye, Flash looking him over long and hard just frowned at him. Sighing, he rubbed his eye, appearing somewhat annoyed by Ambers' statement. "I'm sorry about your...less than happy childhood, but you were not the only one in this world to have been bullied by others just for being different," Flash somewhat coolly informed him. Feeling a little guilty for snapping at him like that, he added, "look Ambers, I really don't want to argue with you. So, despite what happened in...our movie let's just try to get along. Shall we?" Flash offered Ambers his hand to shake as though making a deal with him.

After that rather...awkward conversation with Ambers Flash also turned to the others in their little group. Ambers was not the only one feeling like the odd one out as Flash was the only...villainous character there. So naturally being in a group with more heroic characters sort of put him on edge. After listening to what Ambers said about his character Flash thought about it. "Hmmm...well, I think that perhaps it would help a lot if you unlocked your character fully first then I am sure you have to...shift into the carpet in order to fly. And I'm guessing the flying carpet flies by levitating as genies do," he answered with a shrug.

His yellow eyes caught sight of two boys trying to jump into the air in an attempt to take off flying. Flash just headdesked at them. "And I think...that goes for everyone here! That is everyone has to unlock their character then shift into it in order to fly," Flash announced somewhat loudly to the entire group, so the two boys could hear him. Upon hearing him, they grumbled and stayed put on the ground. "Alright then mister smarty pants just how is it you propose we unlock our characters, hmmm...?" One of the group asked. "Yeah!" The others said in union causing Flash to just sigh. "I...I don't know. All I know is I'm sure you should unlock your characters first unless you want to hurt yourselves, which by all means go ahead," Flash told them causing them to all hush up. "No? Then I suggest we all work on unlocking our characters. Um, I don't care who wants to go first. I uh I really don't want to," Flash said somewhat nervously towards then end. The others started snickering at this, "What's the matter Iago? Chicken?" Flash glared. "No, don't be silly! I just don't feel like transforming is all," Flash said purposely not stating his real reason. This caused them to all giggle. "Sure," they said sarcastically. Ignoring them, Flash turned to Ambers. "You can interefere at any moment, ya know," he told him.