She was momentarily distracted by the tree that seemed to sprout up from the ground, looking from it to him and back again incredulously. She grabs his hand and pulls it down to make him feel the ice flowing up around his ankles. "Look, that's real. That's important. You need to get out of these shoes before- ahhhh!" She said, hurriedly ripping her feet off the floor and scattering the ice that had started to flow up them into tiny flakes of crystal.

That was bad. That was bad! She alternated feet, dancing like a barefoot child on hot asphalt. "Rub that." She said. "Where I put your hands. Keep rubbing it. Don't let it go up your leg. Hold on, I'll get help." She turned to sprint off and tripped again, falling forward and knocking her forehead against the ice before scrambling back up and out the door.

Slipping and sliding out of the gym and into the wall, she ran down the hallway toward the front door. She didn't know exactly what she would find when she threw it open, but she had a good idea. The reaction was almost instant. Bird swarmed around her for a moment, tiny little tufts of yellow, brown, and red, a small flock that swarmed down the hallway. What followed were four bigger birds, red head plumage displayed proudly, and then Alfie herself. This time she took the ice just a little slower.

When she rounded the corner back into the gym she saw exactly what she expected. The little birds, snowbirds, had swarmed around Kyo's feet. You could hardly see his shoes under the swarming mass as they rapidly beat their wings around him. It was very similar to a technique used by bees to silence wasp scouts. Knowing that they couldn't fight the wasps with stingers or mandibles, the bees instead simply dog piled the invaders, baring their wings furiously as they did so. The exertion raised the bees internal body temperature, and the heat generated by so many bees moving together cooked the wasp alive.

Alfie understood none of this, only that it had saved her life more than once when faced with a long cold night. Once she'd passed out despite their efforts and awoken the next morning in a circle of birds, dead from sheer exhaustion.

She could already see water pooling around his feet and up in the rafters the four woodpeckers watched stoically, ready to chisel the boy out if need be. She walked over and placed her hands on him again. "I'm going to pull on three, try to move with me. One, two, three!"

@Diabolicalrhapsody
"Is it over?"Katerin asked her silent friend. The room seemed quiet nw. More calm. Still she isn't stop her ice. She wasn't sure that she could honestly. She had never let go like this. But before she tried she wanted to know that it was safe to do so. Being blind made it impossible for her to access the situation. She needed reassurances that things were under control now.

Brigit was unsure on how to reply to her friend, words had left her a long time ago. She didn't know what she could do in this situation, especially her friend too had the handicap of sight. She paused for a moment before trying hard and managing to grunt "Unh...hunh", it was supposed to be a positive reply but how Katherin would take it was something she wasn't sure about. She still hugged her warmly, the ice ran directly from her body into Brigit's, tiny flakes formed on her fiery red hair.

@KatherinWinter

thinking that the ice stop spreading jack lowered his dark barrier"wow...so when do we start whatever were doing?"

Max, still sliding around on the ice on his butt, says back to Jack "Probably when things calm down more, and when we all are more relaxed."

jack blocked maxes path wiith a wall of shadow stopping him from sliding"hashtag tushie sled olympics anybody"

The situation seemed over when Alfie had come to the rescue. Birds rushed in, in untold numbers. He had no idea how many birds swarmed at the boy's feet, but it was a frightening sight to behold. He wondered what they had intended to do, what the girl's intention was.

As the water around the center seemed to vanish, Aaron was stricken by surprise, for he had not expected the birds to succeed. He was carried to safety, away from the dangers of wild ice. The two girls, locked on to each other, remained as they were. More was yet to unfold. Perhaps if only that boy hadn't said something idiotic, this difficult scenario might never had unfolded. His powers useful for only crude destruction, Aaron only watched as the scene unraveled. He was still with his new friend, Mystique.

@Gentlemanvaultboy

Kyo's eyes widened again in confusion and slight fear as he started to understand what the girl was saying. He wasn't sure when this ice had appeared or why, but he really was stuck after all. Becoming more distressed now, especially when the freezing substance threatened to trap the younger child as well, he could only look on in distress as she eventually ran off presumably to get something to help, flinching a bit when he saw her fall on the ice. Without any better plans of his own, he tucked the tablet a little more securely under his arm and tried doing as she suggested until she returned.

The projected tree also started to frost over without his control, beginning slowly and freezing faster as his panic started to build, until the whole thing was nothing more than an ice sculpture itself.

Unfortunately, even though he tried his best to rub the cold trap away and pull himself free, it proved fruitless as the frost continued up his legs, forcing him to remove his hands to keep them from being caught and frostbitten as well.

...Until the birds came.

When they first appeared, the boy was quite shocked, especially when they swarmed around him with their wings moving as quickly as possible. Not fully understanding what was going on himself, he found it a bit alarming. Had they been much bigger, he might not have been able to handle being in the center of the group without having some way to escape. As they continued, however, he soon felt his legs start to loosen up. When the little girl returned and tried to pull him out again, he finally felt the ice give way and release one of his feet.

Unfortunately for him, the combination of the pulling momentum with the slippery, wet ice and the flapping mass of birds caused him to lose his balance. Barely able to turn his body enough to avoid falling onto his young savior, he closed his eyes as his other leg slipped and he met the ice next to her.

Behind him, the tree shattered soundlessly and disappeared.

Unfortunately shed misjudged the force of her pull, sending herself clattering on to her back as Kyo came free and tumbled down beside her. Still, just the fact that he was out was a relief and she laid there for a moment to let her heart slow down, watching that tree he'd summoned up from the ether shatter into pieces and vanish. As the the thing fell to piece the bird, seemingly totally forgetting Kyo's existence now that he was free, flocked over and perched themselves on her prone form.

A second later she realized why, the feeling of something cold and wet climbing its way onto her hands and up her hair. She hastily sat up, the birds seamlessly exploding off her as she stood up before setting across her again like a feathery coat. She quickly grabbed Kyo for the forth time today, and started helping him up. "Who's still doing the ice?" She called, disgruntled, over her shoulder. "Knock it off!"

"Can you feel your toes?" She asked Kyo, concerned. Because of birds she'd never had the misfortune of catching frostbite, but she'd see it on other people. "You should probably change your shoes."

Sunday folded her arms across her chest as she looked out of the window. The bus was nearly empty, and there was only one more stop that was left to make. Sure, she could've ran to where she needed to go, but sometimes she just needed time to think. After a week and a half, one hundred dollars had quickly dropped to twenty, and she knew that there was no way that she was going to find a job that was foolish enough to hire a child off the streets. This was her only option, whether she liked it or not.

She pulled on the sleeve of her brown leather jacket as the bus slowly rolled to a stop. The old man who was sitting in the seat behind her got off, leaving her alone with the driver. He glared back at her, and she knew that she had to go. When she was finally off, and the bus was pulling away, she took one last look at the old man, who was crossing the street towards the grocery store. Then she was gone.

It only took her a minute to get there, and when she did she let out a huge breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. The orphanage was way nicer than any other orphanage she'd ever seen, but that didn't stop her from feeling nauseous. The closer she got to the door, the more she felt like she was going to puke. After what seemed like ages, she was finally standing in front of the door, her arm raised.

"Just do it," she mumbled to herself.
She knocked.

jack heard a jnock"someones at the door,ill go see who it is"

he ran down the hall then opened the door"hello,can i help you?"jack saw a girl who seemed weary

Max, now sitting by himself on the ice, let out an awkward laugh. He felt like most of this was his fault. Max didn't know what to do, so he just sat there and hummed silently.

"Alright. Let's calm down. Everyone be seated please. We need to get started. On the right if you have demonstrated. On the left if you havent. You will give your name, state your ability and then show your current level of control."The housekeeper instructed. She needed to get the day started. "Katherin can you bring the ice back. We need the floor."

@KatherinWinter

Mystique stayed in her seat the whole time so she did not need to move at all. She was not sure what else to do and was scared. She hoped that someone would soon come and sit with her so that she had someone to whisper to.

jack heard the housekeeper"come on in we are just getting started"jack lead the girl to the gym "new people go to the left"jack then rsn to the left"im back and i brought a newcomer"

@Blizz

Sunday looked down at the boy who'd opened the door. He looked as though he was about eleven or twelve, and seemed to be in a really good mood.
"Hello, can I help you?" The boy looked at her and awaited an answer. Unsure of what to say, she just shrugged her shoulders and stepped inside.

"I don't have anywhere else to go."
"Come on in, we are just getting started," he said as he led her towards the gymnasium, "New people go to the left."

Sunday took a hesitant step to the left as she looked around the gym. She saw a lot of peculiar faces, and her ears turned a light shade of red when the boy announced that she was there. Luckily, her ears were hidden by her dreads. She followed behind him, since she basically had no idea why they were all in a gym. She didn't even know that normal orphanages had gyms.
Well, obviously, this wasn't an ordinary orphanage.

Brigit released Katherin from her hug as the housekeeper spoke. She maybe able to change the scenery now, now when the housekeeper had finally appeared. As they were once again directed to the left. She got up and stood next to the tall Amazon whom she had hugged earlier. There was no way she could communicate what housekeeper wanted but atleast she can display her powers.

There were foot marks on the floor created by her stroll, her skin had simply sucked out the ice that were beneath her sole. It looked like a trek through a mountain, it was fun to her.

@Gentlemanvaultboy

The boy shivered as he tried to push himself off the ice, doing his best to favor the arm still cradling the tablet. He nodded gratefully to the younger girl as she tried to help as well, though he almost dropped the tablet as he felt his feet start slipping from under him again.

Or...huh?

"Can you feel your toes?"

No. No, he couldn't.

He couldn't feel them at all.

It was as if they had been replaced by something else, something nonliving. But they had been hurting only a moment ago, he thought.
So strange. He could still see them, but they didn't move right. It hurt to move them, but otherwise, there might as well have been nothing more than dead weight.

It was almost the opposite of whatever had happened to his throat.

As the girl spoke again, he soon found himself snapping back to reality with necessity of a response hanging over him. She had told him to change his shoes...right? He hadn't imagined that. Biting his lip a little, he nodded and tried to stand on his own again. The pain was immediate, if brief. They still wouldn't move right, and it took so much effort to walk, especially without grimacing so obviously. But she was right; if nothing else, he shouldn't be wearing these shoes. That was something he could probably change...if he could just stand up properly.

Katherin nodded. She wasn't sure that she could do it but she would try to do. She tried to draw the ice back to her. It was a slow process. Inch by inch she pulled the ice to her. It melted away only leaving a few drops of water here and there. When the ice was gone Katherin's skin had turned blue. If anyone touched her, her skin would be freezing. Her breath came out in cold puffs, like a person outside in the winter.