We're going, like, to the mall. Like, totally.

Emma bounced out of the art supply store, holding a bag full of new supplies. 
"This is great, I got new paints, and a bag of clay-- the real stuff, not the polymer junk," Emma said aloud. 
Haha, I know, I was there. Bernard said, you don't have to talk aloud, you know.
"I know, I just like it better."
So I've noticed, Bernard said with a good humored laugh. 
Today was a good day, Emma decided. Nice weather out, people hanging around at the mall. Who knows, she might even see someone around.

"Later, losers!"
     Otto waved cheerfully to Jake and Axel as she left the hardware store. The boys were planning to go get tacos or something in the food court, but Otto had another stop she wanted to make before joining them there. Although Jake and Ax were pretty cool dudes (if not a little shifty, in Ax's case), she mostly just wanted to meet up with them again later for the tacos.
     With plenty of directory consultation and confused wandering, she eventually found her way to the video game store and started browsing. She wasn't planning on buying anything, not yet, but she did want to see what kind of cool stuff they had around here. This was her first time in this mall, after all.
     A while later, she left. As she walked past the art store, she grinned at all the bright, vibrant colors inside. She loved bright colors. Heck, her hair was full of bright colors. Alright, only two colors, but still. However, she hated to admit, she  was no artist, and didn't really have any business in an art store. Besides causing a mess. She smiled devilishly to herself. Maybe another day.
     Yes, please!
     Otto chuckled to herself at Finn's enthusiasm. She could always count on her wisp to support her on some crazy awesome escapade. She was looking forward to having all sorts of fun around here.
     She found herself falling in step with some short-haired girl with a bag from the art store. She was also talking to herself.
     Otto gave her a curious look as she seemingly replied to something Otto couldn't hear. She quickly voiced the question both the Esper and wisp were wondering.
     "Who ya talkin' to?"

Axel ordered the food, Taco Bell wasn't the best, Axel wasn't a big fan of fast food, but the mall didn't exactly have alot of choices so he decided to settle with it. He decided to finish they're conversation from the hardware store.
"How about you try picking this now." Axel said, holding out a lock that he took from the hardware store. Yes he stole a lock, he was aware of the irony.

Amber rolled her eyes. "You're wasting a kid, Ax." She picked at her salad, not really feeling like eating. (They do have salads in Taco Bell, right?) She watched as Axel passed the lock to Jake. She had been taught how to pick a lock by Ax, too. I swear, he's going to make a band of thieves someday, Clair said. Amber secretly agreed. Ax could do that, with his powers and all. She thought back to the book The Thief Lord. Heh. 

Kyain was in the arcade, playing Air Hockey with Al. She had bought a cookie which they shared, so Al had claimed that he would pay for the games. So here they were, playing the most intense game of air hockey in the history of games. It was the best fun she had in ages, and Fox was clearly enjoying it also.

Jake grinned and picked up the lock. "Come on, it's not that bad," he said, picking up the twisted paperclip. "Just a bunch of mechanism knowledge and stuff. And it's not like it can't come in handy normally either." Jake slowed as he focused on picking the lock, but it wasn't too difficult. He opened it easily. "I mean, locksmith is a legitimate career." 
Jake clicked it closed and locked it for the heck of it, then unlocked it again. He and Wayne were interested more in how it worked than the several applications of the specific skill. And when you knew how something worked, there was always a way to jerry-rig it to work.

Axel leaned back when Jake managed to open the lock relatively easily. The instructors knew he taught some of the newbies skills like this, and while they didn't openly oppose it, since the skills had come in handy on mission before, they definitely didn't like it. Axel didn't care, these were helpful skills.
You just want to have more people to be potential suspects, instead of just you. Casper chipped in.
Axel ignored the wisp, as usual. "Relax, Amber it's not like I'm teaching him to pick pockets...yet." Axel checked the time it took, not bad for a first time, though it could have been done quicker.
"Not bad, maybe next time I'll find a real challenge for you."

***********************************************************

Al barely missed the puck, bringing the score to 2, 7. Al didn’t care that he had just lost though, he had fun playing. When he had played with his bodyguards, they would let him win, possibly out of fear that losing would make him act bratty, or perhaps on orders from his parents. Al never really could tell, but either way it was nice for people to treat him like any normal kid.
“So, what do you wanna play next?” Al asked, he wasn’t very good at the games but he was happy. It was nice to have a friend.