Young Writers Society

Now that she had realized that Jewel was the other person in the park that she had accidentally scared, she felt horrible - and silly. Not quite sure what to say to make up for what had just happened, Wren shifted back into The Actor's form.

"...I also come in peace," she awkwardly said.

Oh, gosh, had he just embarrassed himself in front of The Actor, again?

That was it, he was never going to become someone cool. Not after tripping over his feet, and then screaming at what was probably a really weird looking shadow at half-glance.

“Ahh, oh, hi!” Jeff yelled, a bit louder than he meant because all he could hear was his heart thumping. He scratched the back of his neck.

Wren was awkwardly silent for a moment, not sure what to do or say. This hadn't been how she had wanted to run into Jewel again. She wasn't really sure how she wanted to meet him, but the intention had never been to scare him. She felt horrible now.

"...I'm sorry," she finally said, her voice quiet. "I didn't want to scare you."

Jeff shook his arms out, trying to use up some of that adrenaline rush. The Actor was far nicer than he would have expected a top notch superhero to be since he did act dumb on two separate occasions.

“Ah, no, not your fault. I’m a scaredy-cat sometimes, so, well, that’s why I — screamed.”

Wren shook her head. He wouldn't have screamed if she hadn't turned into a shadow in the first place. Why hadn't she guessed that it was just someone walking through the park - and not someone up to no good?

"I was the one who shapeshifted into a shadow person," she pointed out, blushing. "...I would have screamed, too."

Honestly, The Actor was too good for this world. Jeff sighed, letting his shoulders slump. It seemed like this wouldn't be held over his head. Thank goodness.

"A-nyway, well, how are you doing? It was-such an-honor to meet you, sir." And there went another blush. Ugh. At least he was still wearing his mask.

The first few times he went running, Jeff lost way too many masks to the wind.

Wren hadn't noticed that Jewel was blushing, but she did notice that her own blush got a hundred times worse when she heard him say it was an honor to meet her.

"You don't have to call me sir," she frantically said, face turning an even darker shade of bright red. She took a step away from the tree she had backed into earlier. Even though she hadn't really gotten dirty, she brushed off her shoulders and tried to neaten out her cape a little.

It was the equivalent of her cleaning her glasses; she still had a nervous kind of fidget when she was The Actor.

"And I'm doing good," she said. She gave him a tiny smile. "The park is nice at night."

Something Jewel said suddenly registered. She had been so flustered by Jewel calling her sir and treating her with so much respect that she hadn't thought of the implications. The Actor wasn't supposed to look all that old. Jewel was treating her like she was the older one. And when she thought about it, his voice sounded pretty young, too.

...Could Jewel be a teenager, too?

“Oh, uhm, ok, thanks.”

Jeff paused, trying to process the fact that he basically was given permission to just call The Actor by The Actor, which was cooler than his dreams could ever have imagined.

“I haven’t been in this part of town much, but I saw this park earlier and figured I’d stop by. Even during the night.”

He pinched himself, trying to be discrete, as he still felt stunned at how he was holding a conversation with such a cool person.

She peered at Jewel from behind her mask, trying to see if she was right. It was hard to tell because he was wearing a mask, too, but she really did think he was her age.

Her actual age.

That was an exciting thought! She wondered if he went to the same school as her. Had they already interacted? Probably not. Not many people interacted with her, but still. If they ever got really close, she could let him know the truth! Then they could be the best of friends and-

She was jerked out of her daydream by strange sounds from farther in the park; sound carried pretty well in it, especially when it was as empty as it was now. It took a moment for her to register what the sounds were - there was a shaking and spraying noise.

...Wren knew that noise.

"...I think someone is doing graffiti," she said, pointing in the direction the noise was coming from. Hopefully, all she would have to do was ominously appear of the shadows like Batman. That usually got people to stop vandalizing. They'd panic and run away, leaving their graffiti to be cleaned by Wren the rest of the night or sometime the next day.

Did this mean Jeff was going to be able to do superhero things with an actual superhero?

“Ah, alright, I guess we should head over then,” he said, walking closer to The Actor. “What’s your usual strategy?”

Jeff hoped he sounded more like a coworker and not a fanboy, but, well, a fanboy would be the more apt description of how he felt towards The Actor.

Wren faltered.

She didn't really have a strategy. She let instincts take over in situations like this - she would have been too panicked to think straight if she didn't. She glanced between Jewel and the source of the noise.

"...I usually walk over to them and do my best Batman impression," she finally admitted. She blushed a little. "I only really fight people who are doing serious crimes, but people who vandalize usually get scared off when they see me appear out of the shadows."

“Alright, let’s head over there, but we can be a bit sneaky to see if it throws off whoever is out there.”

There, that didn’t seem like the worst plan ever, right? Jeff agreed.

He started to head over in the direction that The Actor pointed in. It was plenty dark, so he felt safe being mostly hidden even casually walking over.

Jeff could see somebody standing outside one of the park buildings, probably the bathroom.

Hmm, now what to do?

They approached the vandalizer.

They were spraying something onto the side of one of the park building's. They couldn't have been that old - maybe in their early twenties - but the...certain body part they were spraying onto the bricks made them seem even younger.

Wren took a quiet breath. This would be easy. She would scare off the vandalizer off, talk more with Jewel, and maybe figure out if he really was her actual age before going home for the night!

Nothing would go wrong.

Nothing could go wrong.

She cleared her throat and stepped out of the shadows.

"Hello," she said, in a deep voice that was a startingly good Batman impression. The voice usually sent people running, but the vandalizer turned around - paint canister in hand. A second later, Wren had bright pink spray paint all over her face.

Jeff Jonsin

Oope.

Jeff tried to hold in his laughter, choking on his words and then his giggles that threatened to leak out. He couldn't even wipe at his eyes because he was wearing a mask.

"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh," Jeff cackled, honking into the night air, even while The Actor and the vandalizer stood there. "You just went 'Batman' and then they just 'wablam' all around, HA!"

He was shaking so hard he couldn't breathe, not even when he finally tried to stop for some air.

"I'm sorry, this isn't uh very professional," Jeff said, composing himself slowly. "But, please don't spray paint everywhere, alright? A park isn't a great place for graffiti, after all, since it's just gonna be painted over anyway. Save it or set up an event to use that paint to actually make something look cool!"

"Sound good?" He grinned.

Wren, who had been trying to both look unfazed and wipe the paint off of her face, gave Jewel a hurt look at his laughter. If he had been the one who had stepped out first, he would have gotten paint in his face, too.

Wren tried - and failed - to get the paint off of the cheek she was furiously scrubbing with the palm of her hand. Jewel, meanwhile, lectured the vandal.

But when he posed the question, the vandal just help up the spray canister and pressed the button. All that came out was a tiny squirt of air and a few droplets of bright pink paint.

Then the other paint canisters that littered the ground started to move. Even without the vandal touching them, paint started to float out through the little holes - and right towards Jewel.

A moment later, Jewel was doused in a rainbow of spray paint.

"I don't to save it," the vandal said. "I want to paint here, and I want to paint it now."