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[grey_matter]

There's a microscope beside him, a slide locked into place with some tissue sample or another, and papers strewn across the desk. The building is over half finished now. Grey, however, is asleep at the desk in his lab, having failed to actually make it to bed, as happens all too often.

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[ockette]

A door somewhere snicts shut. But the sound, and in fact the door, are not mundane things, to be found in the waking world. No. The sound echoes very quietly in Grey's dreams, followed, shortly, by the faintest hint of a child's giggle.

[grey_matter]

There's a boy of about five sitting cross-legged on the lawn in front of a rather nice looking house, a bottle of bubbles clasped in one hand and the wand in the other. He blows softly into the wand, sending a stream of bubbles flying out into the air, and watches as a soft breeze takes the iridescent orbs ever higher.

His transfixion with them is cut short, however, by the echoing sound of a door closing and what sounds like childish laughter. He turns to look in the direction it seems to be coming from.

[ockette]

Clair's awfully small for four, so it's a very little girl teetering on the edge of the house's porch, barefoot and dressed in pale gold, her hair an orange firebrand and her eyes unnaturally black, so deep there are stars in them. "Can I play?"

[grey_matter]

The boy seems oddly unperturbed by the fact that the girl has just exited what is his own house. He watches her a moment, apparently considering the request, and then grins. "Okay!"

[ockette]

She came through the door. That doesn't mean she came from the house. But she hops down from the porch and runs to join him, pigtails flying.

"What can you do with the bubbles?"

[grey_matter]

As she leaves the porch the entire house disappears. As a matter of fact, all the surrounding houses do as well, leaving behind only perfect, square patches of lawn all the exact same length and healthy green. The street looks brand new now, shiny and dark, but no cars grace it. In fact, there's not another soul in sight save the two of them. The boy doesn't seem to notice any of this.

"You blow em." Duh! He grins at her. "What's your name?"

[ockette]

"I know that. I'm Clair. Can you make them do anything special?"

[grey_matter]

There's the slightest flicker of recognition in his eyes at the name and then it's gone as fast as it came. "'m Alastor." He looks at her strangely now. "Like what?"

[ockette]

With eyes like hers, it's hard to tell if she already knew him or not. Don't look too closely.

"Blow some more and I'll show you."

[grey_matter]

Suspicious little Grey looks suspicious. What are you pullin'? "Okay..." He shrugs and dips the wand into the bottle, bringing it up and blowing a stream of bubbles out of it. He seems kind of skeptical about whether she'll be able to do anything with them, as he looks at her expectantly.

[ockette]

Clair grins, and claps sharply with her arms fully outstretched. The air ripples out surreally from the gesture, and when it crosses the drifting bubbles, they burst with flairs of gold-green fireworks.

"More!"

[grey_matter]

Grey's expression could be summed up to :O. "How'd you do that!?" He dips the wand again quickly and blows on it. He blows too hard in his excitement and only a few bubbles fly out this time. "Do it again!"

[ockette]

She claps again, and this time, the bubbles multiply by the thousands, filling the air around them in an irridescent cloud.

[grey_matter]

Grey almost drops the bottle of bubbles, eyes going wide. He reaches out and catches one on the end of the wand, grinning wildly. "Hey, how'd you do that?" He tilts his head at her.

[ockette]

"Magic," she says, with all the smugness a tiny child can summon.

[grey_matter]

"No. You're lying." He tries to catch a bubble on his hand but it pops on contact. He frowns at her. "There's no such thing as that."