So Dave was trying to do his job without actually jarring his arm too much. Or he had been; when he nearly dropped an expensive light, he informed the manager that he was taking some time off, until he got more used to the annoyingly bulky cast on his arm. He'd be back in plenty of time to at least run lights for the next show.

He's been riding a lot more slowly, lately, because his broken arm makes things a little difficult. By rights, he shouldn't even be riding at all, but he has no other form of transportation, so he gets by.

He's just coming out of the theatre now, in the usual jeans and t-shirt--dark grey, today--though he cut off one sleeve of the shirt so that he could actually get it on over the cast that covers his entire arm. Very annoying.

Ted looks around, feeling that he was on a grand adventure.

To reiterate what Ted looks like: short blond boy, vaguely in need of a bath, with an open face that read like a book the various emotions behind his eyes: excitement, happiness, glee, curiousity.

Now, that's the thee-ah-ter. So where's the bike? Bikebikebike!

Wick buzzed around Ted's head, grinning.
"...He keeps it over there-" he pointed to the alleyway "-I think. Last time I checked. Hope he's here..."

And then he spotted Dave coming out of the theatre. "Hey, there he is! C'mon, let's go ask him if he'll give you a ride." he said eagerly, plucking at Ted's shirt to hurry him along, then speeding ahead towards Dave. He was about to use the tall human for a landing pad, but stopped and hovered a few feet away, staring.

What on earth...?

"Whoooa..." Wick gasped (in shock, not concern), forgetting to even say 'hello'. He pointed to the cast. "What happened t' you?!"

"Wipeout. Shattered elbow. What're you doing here?"

Did Wick ever mention to Ted that Dave rather greatly dislikes Wick...?

Blink.

"Who's the kid?"

Poor confused Dave.

Ted winced and tried his best to look sympathetic.

Then he gave up, and asked "Can I have a ride on your bike, mister?"

Ted's rather singleminded.

For a fraction of a second, Wick remembered to be a bit disappointed that Dave hadn't noticed his wings. Then he remembered that he didn't like Dave very much, anyway, so it didn't matter.

He didn't express any sympathy for the human - other than a slight wince, because it sounded like it had hurt. Then he fluttered backwards and landed, once again, on Ted's shoulder.

"This is my new friend, Ted," he said cheerfully, pointing to him. "Dave - meet Ted. Ted - meet Dave."

Dave lifted an eyebrow.

"Hi, Ted."

He glanced behind Ted, as if expecting an authority figure to be following.

"Where's your mom, kiddo? You're a little young to be riding around with me without parental permission, you know."

And the fact that he's recently had a crash doesn't make him any more eager to give a ride to a fresh-faced ten-year-old.

Pardon me, eleven.

"Hi, Mr. Dave." Ted said obediently.

Ted did his best Not-Gunna-Tell-Ya shrug.

"I'm eleven."

The peak of maturity, eleven is. Didn't Dave know?

"What's it matter?" Wick said. He flew up to Dave and tweaked his nose, then flew back out of reach. He nodded to Ted. "So can you? Give him a ride, I mean. Pleeeeease? We came all the way here just to ask."

He put on his best innocent-adorable-pleading face. He didn't expect it to work, but he liked to try.
And he didn't want them to have come here for nothing.

Dave rolled his eyes.

"I've already crashed once this week, and if I did it again, with some minor kid on the bike--without his parents' permission--I'd be so. Freakin'. Dead. The helmet wouldn't even fit 'im."

Which is a big priority, since helmets have saved Dave's life twice now.

Ted stared sullenly at the ground.

If it were his bike, he'd let Dave ride on it. He wasn't selfish. He shared. And he wouldn't crash it, either!

Hmph.

"Can I see your bike, mister Dave?" Ted is being incredibly forebearing and patient with Dave. Dave had better appreciate this.

Wick, now with his arms crossed and hovering behind Ted, looked reproachfully at Dave. The expression was one that really didn't belong to him, but that he had used before. The 'if you don't, I won't like you anymore' face.

Big loss. Ha. They don't like each other anyway.

Dave sighed.

"Yeah, sure. Look all you want, just don't dent it up more than it is. 's right over there."

If they keep giving him the double-barrel reproachful kid stare ™, he'll probably give in and give Ted a ride.

Home.

Ooooooooou.

Ted dashed off, with a absentminded attempt to not unbalance Wick with his sudden speed. Though mostly he forgot Wick was there- this was the first time he'd ever had to worry about a friend sitting on him in transit.

He spent the next few minutes happy poking and peering at the bike.

"What happened to the orange?" Remember, his only other vision of the bike came from Wick's memory.

As a side note, who says Teddy knows how to get home from here?

Wick didn't bother to try and keep his balance, and let himself roll off. He just flew after Ted, smirking to himself.

"The orange? That was just a trick I played. He-" he pointed in Dave's direction "-didn't like it very much. Anyway, it was only meant to last for a little while. A night at most."

Ted scowled at that. "Do it again?" He isn't going to beg, but it was cool looking!

And cool looking stuff is fun!

Dave sighed.

"'s long as it's very temporary, I don't give a sh... darn." Hey, he watches his language around children and ladies. It's one of those sweet little things he does.

And as long as Wick doesn't do anything permanent to his bike, he doesn't mind. Too much. Also, he'd prefer to keep things with Wick on a truce level, because he's been having so much other rotten luck lately.

"Mmkay," Wick nodded. The bike shimmered briefly, and then the pretend-paint was back, splatters included. He also hid the dents completely - but this was only temporary. He was only making it look neat for Ted.
"There, how's that?"

"That is so COOL."

And Ted really means that.

"Could I do that?" He has magic and stuff. Would he be able to?

He's preoccupied by the bike, of course. Shiny toys.

Dave reminded himself that it was illusion and did not attempt to squash Wick. Abstractly, he didn't mind. Actually seeing spraypaint on his bike was sort of different, though.

"Great, cool, now can you take it off?"

Spoilsport.

"I dunno. Have you ever been able to do anything like it before?" Wick asked, blinking at Ted, with an apologetic sort of smile. "Because if you can't, then it's prob'ly really hard to learn. I've always been able to do it, but I dunno if you can."

He looked over his shoulder at Dave.
"I will when Ted wants me to,... or before we leave. One or the other," he smirked wickedly. "But I will take it off."

"Um. I can make flowers dance. That's real flowers, though. 'n do the dishes without touching them, only then mum gets mad at me." He frowned. Silly mum.

"Never done hiding things before. I can see things okay, but hiding them.. nuh-uh. Should I try?"

Dave rolled his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Whatever. Hey, kid, how are you getting home? I mean, do you live around here, or what?"

"You could try, but don't count on it working," Wick whirred lazily around, and then decided to orbit Dave's head for a while, just fast and loud enough to be annoying.

"I was in the park with mom and Jess and Mari and then I went looking for a pond and then I met Wick and then we came here."

Nowhere in this story does it say 'my mother and sisters are not frantically searching for me, believing me to have been kidnapped'.

Not concerned at all about this, he poked the bike again. Besides a few half-hearted sparks, nothing changed about its appearance. He kicked the ground discontentedly. "Stupid magic, never works right...." Pause. "Ooooh, Wick, I remembered. Mum says I'm a mage. That's what begins with an m. Mage." He paused thoughfully "Silly word, though."

Dave briefly ignored Wick in favor of staring at Ted in consternation.

"You told them where you were going, right?"

Maybe he'll give the kid a ride after all. Back to the park, where hopefully his mother and sisters are still looking for him, and haven't called the police yet.

With his luck, that's not going to happen.

"Mage?" Wick grinned. "Really? Awesome!"

He paused, frowning.

"As long as you don't zap me or anything, that is...."

"Huh? Would have taken too long." ...better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Story of his life, really.

"Why would I zap you? You're my friend. That wouldn't be cool."

If you haven't noticed, cool is a major part of Ted's vocabulary.

Blink.

"Changed my mind," Dave said suddenly, fumbling open the catch to where he stored the spare helmet and holding it out to Ted. "Put this on. We're going back to the park, where hopefully I won't get arrested for kidnapping you or somethin'."

He put on his own helmet and shook his head wearily.

"Heh. Good to know," Wick nodded. He smirked, and flew well out of their way. "Guess I'll seeya some other time, then, Ted. Have fun!"

He waved goodbye, and was about to dart away when-
"Oops. Just a sec."
The orange paint vanished. He grinned, and flitted out of sight.

Motorbike ride! Cool!

"Cool!"

As they did the various things that involve getting onto a motorbike and keeping Ted relatively safe on a motorbike, Ted asked "Why'd you get arrested? You didn't do nothing."

Bad, bad grammar, Ted. Shame on you.

"... never mind. Hold tight to me, hear me? As tight as you can." The very last thing he wants is for Ted to fall off. That would just cap this day...

And off we go to the park.

Dave is hoping that there won't be too much hysterics. He doesn't deal well with hysterics.

Ted does as he is told.

Motorbike ride!


Amanda, meanwhile, is just returned from circling the park, once again, in the car. She parks it, wishing that she had just kept an eye on him... or sent one of the girls after him... where had her Teddy gone? She wouldn't put it past him to have just wandered off somewhere. But...

she kept worrying. What if he'd wandered off somewhere with someone?

She was scared.

Breath in, breath out. Focus on the breath. Meditate. You can't let the girls see how scared you are.

She got out of the car. The girls had been searching around the interior of the park. They'd agreed to here, right about, oh, now.

The girls are pretty scared too, though Jess is admittedly more annoyed than she is scared, and she intends to give Teddy a thorough scolding as soon as she catches up with the little monster.

Mari just wants her baby brother to be okay.

"Mom! Find him yet?" That was Jess. She's leaning on the car door. Mari is biting her lip and looking scared.

"Ted's going to be all right, isn't he, Mom?"



And here comes the roar of a brilliant red--though slightly dented--motorcycle, whose taller rider has a matching red helment, a cast-encased arm, and a frown that you can't see through the helmet.

The other helmet is black. And the rider wearing that is much smaller. Dave came to a stop and twisted to look at Ted.

"Okay, we're here, I gave you a ride, now let's find your mom and sisters before they have heart attacks, 'kay?"

"No..." she trailed off as the bike's engine noise drowned the end of her sentence out.

One of the benefits of being a witch is that one has senses.

Like the one that tells her that her son is close, safe, and right over there. It's called sight.

"Teddy William Turner! Get over here this instant!"

Grr. Bad boy.


Ted, meanwhile, attempted to hide behind Dave. He was having a great time, and now mum had to ruin it.

Hmph.

"Oh no you don't," Dave exclaimed, pulling Ted around so that he was in front of the man and between Dave and the furious mother. Let's take turns playing human shield, hm?



Jess glared at both Ted and Dave--poor Dave--and stalked over towards her poor dear little brother. "You little beast! Where did you go? We've been looking all over the place for you?"

Mari also looked rather put out, but she did manage to smile a thank you at Dave. (Oou, older cute guy with a motorbike. Who brought Teddy back. Coooooool.)

Ted stuck his tongue out at his sisters and squirmed out of Dave's grasp.

He very carefully returned the helmet and, completely ignoring his family, told Dave "That was awesome! Can I have another ride sometime, mister Dave?"

Amanda bore down on them, and with a firm hand on Teddy's shoulder, silenced him. "Teddy, what have I told you about talking to strangers?" Not waiting for an answer, she turned on Dave and asked "And what were you doing with my son, may I ask, whoever you are?" ..riding around on one of those infernal contraptions. Teddy was lucky to not have broken his neck....

She hugged Teddy to her, both arms hugging his shoulders protectively. Hers.

Dave held up his uninjured hand in a gesture of placation. "Hey, hey... Look, he wandered down to the theatre with... some other kid... and wanted a ride. I just brought him back, okay? I mean, I figured you'd be worried, 'cause he just wandered off and sh... stuff."

Jess folded her arms and glared at Teddy. "Mom ought to put you on a leash," she hissed. "Then we wouldn't have to walk all over the whole park trying to find you!"

Mari stood behind her mother and slipped an arm around Amanda's. "Teddy's okay, Mom. Can we go home now?"

Amanda pulled Teddy closer to her in a possessive hug. "Yes, we're going home now."

"Muuuuum!" She was embarrassing him!

"Who was this you went wandering off with, Teddy? One of your friends?"

"My name isn't Teddy and he wasn't a kid, he was a faerie. He could do il- il- ill-uu-shuns and everything!"

Amanda stared down at her son in, well, shock. Indiscrete to high heaven, that boy! "Teddy! Shush!" She smiled apoligetically at Dave.

She was trying to look unnish herself. Probably wasn't working.

"... 's okay. I kinda... know the faerie in question. Wish I didn't, but I'm not... shocked or anything. Look, the kid's okay, so I guess I'll be going now. Sorry you were so worried, ma'am."

He put his helmet back on and restraddled the bike.

Jess continued glaring at Ted, while Mari leaned on her mother.