by Angie and Lori

Jack Reilly glanced down at the index card in his hand and raised an eyebrow in contemplation.  He couldn't believe that this library only had five books on Incan mythology.  Maybe he should've gotten a hold of one of his college-going friends and snuck into their library.  Undoubtedly, it would have had a better selection than this, the Roanoke Public Library.  Oh, well.  Win some, lose some, he figured.  Adjusting the shoulder strap of his knapsack, he made his way towards the numbers scribbled on the card.  Out of the corner of his eye, however, he saw a flash of lavender hair and turned towards it.  "Oh, hey.  Wilma," he murmured, passing close enough to attract the girl's attention.  "How goes it?"

With a growl and a glare at the books before her, Wilma barely gave a glance towards Jack, "Terrible. Spanish is the most irritating language, ever!" Huffing out a dejected sigh, she looked up at him, irritation melting to shy curiosity, "How've you been, Jack?" Brown eyes studied his form quickly, taking in every line and curve, before returning to his face, brow arched at the index card in his hand, "What're you looking up?"

"Incan mythology if ya can believe it," he answered shortly.  He glanced at the books in front of her and then seemed to decide something.  Casually, he motioned with a long-fingered hand towards the nearest book.  "Can I?"

"Be my guest. In fact, if you could help me make heads or tails of it, I'd love you forever and be your best friend," she grinned slightly at the bribe. Pushing the book towards him and offering a chair in the same motion, she leaned her head on the heel of her hand rather pitifully.

"No worries.  Spanish is something I actually passed," Jack returned with a slight smile as he accepted the chair.  Slouching forward in his most classic Jack-stance, he tugged the book closer and studied it.  A slight crease appeared between his eyebrows as he silently translated.  Finally, he nodded, "Spanish Beginner, huh?"

"Unfortunately, yes," she blushed, peering down at the confusing books, "I stupidly put it off for two years, and now it has come back to bite me in the rear." With a shrug, she grinned sheepishly, "Languages never interested me much, anyway...but how do you say ‘I like you’ in Spanish?"

"Eh."  Jack scratched his chin thoughtfully.  "I'd say 'Tengo gusto de usted' is pretty much it."

"Muchos gracias. Tengo gusto de usted, Jack," Wilma quipped with a slight smile. Groaning softly as her eyes fell on the pages of her books, she made a face down at them, "Whoever invented Spanish did it purposely. They did it just to make the high-school experience miserable for kids like me..."

Jack chuckled softly.  "I think the Spanish invented Spanish," he commented dryly.  "And I'm pretty sure it wasn't... For an evil purpose."  He pointed to a highlighted box on the page facing them.  "Read the history box yet?"

Wilma shook her head, "No, I was planning on putting off all reading until I could mooch off of some kid who had the semblance of a brain. Or until I got bored with whining to myself about how life isn't fair..." Shrugging, she yawned, "But I suppose I'll read it here in a bit..."

"Might be an idea."  Jack glanced at his index card again and then noticed the set of shelving to his right.  "Hey, mind if I go grab these books while you read it? Promise to be back right away, eh."  He offered a half-smile as proof of his sincerity.

Nodding, she smiled back, "Sure, no problem. I'll still be here, going through cruel and unusual punishment..." Keeping up the smile until he had set off for the bookracks, she turned back to the books, warm brown eyes scanning the pages unhappily. With another dejected huff, she settled down and allowed herself to read the dull passages.

Jack peeked out between the shelves to check that Wilma was carrying through on her promise.  Seeing that she had, finally, bent a reluctant head downwards, he nodded to himself.  Then he turned his attention back to the shelves.  Hmmm...  Straitmore...  Where's he at?

"No hablo englais, por favor...blah, blah..." Yawning, she shook her head at the book. "I know that this thing has mind control or something. It's evil...I mean, I'm talking to myself!" Diverting her eyes away from the "interesting" book, she decided to find something a little bit more riveting. Like, Jack, for instance. With a sigh, she watched him look for his books for a little while, before turning back to the wild world of Spanish as he was returning.

Slouching back into his chair and setting his books on the table, Jack peeked at Wilma's book.  "How goes it, huh?" he asked mildly.

"Wishing I had taken this stupid course freshman year and gotten it over with," Wilma replied ruefully, scratching down a few lines of Espanol in her notebook. "Why're you looking up Incan mythology?" Glancing away from the riveting passages in her book to his stack, she regarded him curiously.

Jack touched his books lightly and shrugged, a gesture that Wilma was quickly learning meant had less to do with any uncertainty on his part and more to do with his general stance towards the world.  "Little side research for something I'm working on," he replied somewhat evasively.  "So what'd ya learn?"

"I learned that this really irritating language, originally used by the Spaniards, and derives quite a bit from Latin," she ticked off to him, "that, and the librarian picks her nose." She grinned mischievously at him.

"Sounds like you were busy."  Jack squinted at the page in front of her. "What's your homework?"

"Um," Wilma began, shuffling through her notebooks until she found her daily planner, "Ah, here it is. My homework is to translate the paragraph on page 143, and to decide whether or not the author is talking about the degeneracy of life in Europe." Glaring evilly at her planner before turning her glare towards her book, she sighed with irritation, "Yay, this will be -so- much fun."

"Lemme see?"  Jack extended a hand for the book.  "I'd like to get the feel of it."

"Sure, knock yourself out," Sliding the book towards him all too cheerfully, she leaned once again upon her arm, watching him as he glanced at the paragraph, which might as well have been Sanskrit, for all Wilma could make of it.

"Hmmm..." Jack frowned slightly as he skimmed the paragraph.  Finally, he glanced up at Wilma, a smile hovering around his mouth.  "You're kidding about the degeneracy bit, right?" he asked gently.  Then he pointed to the first sentence.  "This says that 'Roberto lost the vote to Juanita because she promised candy to the other students.'"

"Darn that Juanita...and darn you Spanish literate people, too," She said with a grin, "Yeah, you found me out." Scratching the lines down in her notebook, she huffed, "Had to find -some- way to make Spanish fun..."

"Guess the teacher's on the boring side, huh?"  Jack shrugged.  "Mine was, too.  I have no clue how I learned it myself."

"I usually amuse myself by not paying attention in class and making up soap opera type scenarios for the people in the book," Wilma grinned, "It's somewhat fun. What do you do for fun, anyway?"

Jack shrugged.  "Sleep," he answered with a faint smile.  At her disbelieving look, he shook his head.  "Nah, joking," he amended.  "I draw, hang around the coffee shops and the park."  He shrugged again expressively.  "Normal, boring stuff, y'know?  How about you?"

Wilma shrugged. Seemed to be the thing to do. "I play volleyball...sort of. More like warm the bench for the other players. And...I...like to act, and roller blade." She grinned, "Interesting, no?"

Jack nodded.  "Plenty," he replied sincerely.  "I couldn't act to save my life."

"Well, it's not that hard," she replied, tapping the side of her nose with her pencil, "All you do is pretend...it's usually a lot easier if you've had bunches of caffeine."

"Now caffeine I can get behind," Jack agreed.

"Ah...I'd love to meet the person who invented caffeine and give 'em a big kiss and a hug," Wilma grinned mischievously, "Speaking of kisses, do you have a girlfriend?"

Jack raised an eyebrow and shook his head.  "Nope.  Only been here about six months," he replied. 

"Oh, sorry…" Wilma blushed, ducking her head and pretending to scribble down some Spanish notes. "Well, you’ll find someone and… Yeah."

"Mebbe."  Jack shrugged.  "You a native here?" he asked gently, vaguely aware of her discomfort.

"Um...nope," Wilma shook her head, glad for the change in subject, "I moved here from California about a year ago...Where did you move from?"

"Last one was Rhode Island."  Jack pushed his books about a bit, thinking.  "But I was actually born here a while ago."

"Cool," Wilma smiled, doodling flowers and hearts on her notebook, "Well...17 years ago I was born in California. But, really, I like Roanoke a lot better..."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, Roanoke is cool." He paused and studied Wilma’s expression, head cocked to one side. Finally, he added, "’S weird, too. You gotta wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t all ended up here."

Wilma frowned, doodling a picture of a partridge with an abnormally large head. "We probably would be getting screamed at by some other form of poultry… Probably a chicken or duck… Or maybe we would’ve had normal lives… Who knows?"

Jack chuckled softly.  "I'm developing a fear of wildlife," he replied dryly.  "Talking animals tellin' us we're special."  He shrugged.  "What's so special about us?"

Wilma snorted, "What's so special about us? I'll tell you what's so special about us." She took off her choker and held it out to him, "The special thing about us is that we take these spiffy pieces of jewelry and what not, say some pretty words, and after some sparkles and ribbons, we get a new outfit and special powers. That is what's so special about us..."

Jack fingered his own necklace, a flattened penny hanging from a leather thong. "That’s one answer, I guess. Costumes and powers… And some of us get split personalities, I’m told."

"Well, I’ll just stick with the screaming partridges and choking vines, thanks." Wilma put her choker back on. "I have enough to deal with, let alone a weirder Wilma running around."

Jack nodded.  "One's enough of any of us," he agreed. 

Wilma nodded her agreement, smirking slightly, "I wonder what the world would be like if there were two Perdys....or two Jaces...."

"Two Perdixs," Jack repeated slowly.  "I think the world would be a lot noisier... And two Jaces would lead to a world-shortage of cheesecake."

"And a whole lot less of me," Wilma frowned, going back to doodling flowers on her poor dilapidated notebook.

Jack cocked his head to one side and studied the younger girl. That was some harshness, he thought. Finally, he replied softly, "You don’t get on with her, huh?"

"Depends on your definition of getting along," she smiled wryly, thinking of her run-ins with the senshi of the forge. "If, by getting along, you mean does she start in with her little comments and do I call her names as well, then, yeah. We get along." She shook her head, frowning once more. "I try to be nice to her. Honestly, I do. And I would love to have her as a friend but… Stuff happens…"

Jack leaned back in his chair and studied her in silence again, his hands coming up to lace behind his head.  "Jace is..."  He shrugged.  "She takes some getting used to but she's good."  A faint good old boy smile lit his face.  "She's a great friend if you can take her."

"Then, I suppose..." She smirked, mimicking him and leaning back in her chair, "I suppose I'll have to just try harder, won't I?"

"We all do."  Jack dropped his arms and leaned forward again.  Gently reprimanding, he reached out and tapped her Spanish book.  "With this stuff, too, huh?"

"I suppose so," Wilma smirked, "Although, I'd rather fight a Romanus than figure out verbs..."

"Romanus the only ones you've fought?" Jack's already soft voice dropped even lower and he leaned towards Wilma slightly.  "There's two other groups, right?"

"Yeah...there are Astronomia and Angelus," Wilma's usually loud voice dropped to a rare whisper, "And you know...I don't think it was just the Romanus who did Hades in... Apparently, the Angelus have got it in for us as well..."

Jack rubbed his forehead, suddenly tired of the senshi politics.  "I think everyone's got it in for us, Wilma," he replied softly.  "It's turning into a regular hard-knock life."

"At least you're not classified as a wimp," Wilma replied, changing from serious to seriously grouchy. "Wimps get groused at by their own teammates."

Jack shrugged.  "Don't know about being a wimp," he said gently.  "I've been called worse, though, and you just can't take any of that to heart.  It's someone else's baggage, you know?"

"True...anyway, why're we talking about that depressing stuff?" Wilma smirked gesturing to her Spanish book, "We could be talking about Spanish, and you helping me study on a regular basis."

"Sure thing."  Jack smiled faintly.  "We're teammates, right?  Might as well be your Spanish tutor, too, huh?" 

Wilma blushed, nibbling on her lip, "Really? I didn't mean it seriously...it was just a joke to change the convo topic, but if you want to..."

Jack shrugged good-naturedly.  "Hey, if you need the help, why not?" he replied.

"Sure," Wilma grinned, " 'Sides, it could be a good way to strategize and stuff. We could study at my house if you wanted to."

"Or mine."  Jack shrugged again.  "I have a studio in downtown.  No difference."

"Why don't we alternate places? To make it fair. On one of the days, you'll come to my house, and on the other day I'll go to your house," Wilma doodled a picture of what appeared to be a grouchy mother, "Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, sounds fine to me."  Jack pulled her notebook towards him and took the pen from behind his ear.  "Here's the number, okay?  Next time you need help, give a ring."  After quickly scribbling down the series of numbers, he pushed the notebook back to her.  "Hope you can read my chicken scratch there."

"Umm...yeah, pretty much." Wilma grinned, standing and stretching, "Well, I don't know about you, but if I don't get home soon, one of my family members is going to pitch a fit."

"Right, then."  Also standing, Jack gathered his books up, a teetering pile of miscellany.  "Careful getting home," he cautioned.  "And I'll be seeing you, right?"

"Of course, whether it be for Spanish, or for beating poor people up," Wilma smirked, gathering her belongings, "Thanks for your help." Making a start towards the door, she stopped and snatched her purse before pecking Jack lightly on the cheek. Waving over her shoulder, she quickly made a mad dash for the door.

Jack stood frozen for a minute, gazing after his retreating teammate. Now why did she go and do a thing like that for? he wondered. Tilting his head to rub his cheek thoughtfully against his shoulder, he then shrugged. Maybe he’d ask her during the next tutoring session. Meanwhile he had a date with his sketchbooks…

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