Shadow King: Kids in America

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

The two sanest (or at least two msot peaceable) ex-telepaths run into each other on the grounds and get aquainted.



Jack walked the grounds, paying little attention to where he was going and not particularly caring. All that really mattered at the moment was that he was away, and active. While his legs moved, his mind seemed not to need to -- and he couldn't take the sterile brightness of the Medlab anymore.

A soft voice said, "God. Can we ever go a whole year without ending up in a white room?"

The alter paused in mid-step, frowning. There was nothing unusual about Cyndi's interjection, but he could have sworn it hadn't been his thoughts that had picked it up -- it had been his ears.

Jeannie was out on the grounds for much the same reason - she'd grown tired of being poked and prodded in the medical facility (why on God's green earth did what was supposedly a school have a nurse's station like that?), and all the girls who looked like they'd be neat to hang out with were a foot and a half shorter than she was, and all the adults looked at her like she'd lost her puppy. And, everybody looked at her like she'd grown a second head sometimes. It had all been too much and Jeannie and she'd needed to get out.

She'd not expected to see a crazy tall guy wandering around and talking to himself, though. Man, this place really was insane.

And she was one of the inmates, apparently. "I'm all for fewer white rooms, mister. Totally."

Jack flinched at the unexpected intruder -- not because of who it was, but because he should have felt her physical arrival, especially as strained and raw as he was. He should have been hypervigiliant, he felt like he was -- but where all that attention could be going he just couldn't figure.

Unfortunately getting past the initial surprise only left him east prey for the second. Jack rarely paid any attention to fashion beyond how binding it was, or how likely it could be used to throttle someone he particularly disliked. However, even Jack could round to the nearest decade.

Jack blinked, then cleared his throat. "Yeah. Pity the odds aren't in our favor there." He managed to keep his reply neutral while Cyndi choked their mutual disbelief in the back of his mind. Oh my god, she totally ripped off the collar just so she could make an off-the-shoulder sweater! And the ponytail! The high ponytail! --Dude, where'd she find a scrunchie?

"For sure. Who'dda thunk school could get any lamer. Then they go and pull this. Lame-o-rama." Jeannie pulled a face. "Like, who'd want to live at school? Seriously. The whole thing totally freaks me out." Which was kind of the understatement of the year.

And now we know what it's like for other people when they meet Cyndi. "They mean well," Jack said, mildly amazed that he could say that sincerely. "For whatever that's worth, that is." He paused. He'd been told Jean had 'regressed,' but he wondered how exactly that worked. For a start, what she thought was going on if she was missing a chunk of experience the size of the Grand Canyon. "You remember anything about how you got here?" he asked, putting his hands in his pockets. "By the way, I'm Jack, fellow inmate."

"Nope. Story goes that I'm a total freak, like I didn't already know that. Aparently I came here when I was thirteen - bit harsh since I'm only twelve, except suddenly I'm a hundred feet tall. Hello, body issues much? Like I need more reason to be aware I'm a total dweeb with the freakishly tall thing and ugh my hair." She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe I hit my head, maybe their story about, like, I dunno, brain attacks is true, but here I am." At the moment, Jeannie could be blase. She'd gotten her screaming and throwing things bit done the other night she maybe wasn't really doing as well as she pretended, but being hysterical took too much energy and didn't help that much anyways. Besides, it wasn't like anybody had been cruel to her. Just confusing.

"Yeah, it's a shit transition. Happens more than you'd think. Hell, I passed out ten and woke up thirteen. So it goes." Jack's response was equally blase, but whereas Jeannie had already gotten things out of her system Jack simply lacked emotional attachment. It might as well have happened to someone else because, essentially, it had. He sighed. "I can vouch for the brain attack. Couple of others were caught in it too. In terms of coming out of it functional, I'd say we're the winners." His eyes flicked to Jeannie again. "And if that is not the most unfortunate truth I've ever featured in, I don't know what is."


"Huh. Get real. I totally don't see how waking up ancient qualifies as winning, but if so I so don't want to see the losers." Jeannie shrugged, reaching up to pull a couple strands of hair forward to chew on idly. "Wait, are you saying you were all brain whacked, too?"

"Yeah, and blindsided but good at that. Fucker was smart. Like some kind of chameleon." That, and it had known just what to do to make Jim stupid.

Jeannie tilted her head at the tall man, and rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna pretend like that makes any kind of sense. No, actually, not. Whatever. Are you allowed to use a word like that around me?"

"Up to you. Do you care?"

She eyed him for a moment, then shrugged. "Whatever. This place can't get any weirder."

"It can always get weirder." Jack tilted his head appraisingly. "On that subject, noticed anything that'd warrant your place in the freakshow?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"People who end up here can do things." It occurred to Jack that they might have omitted this detail in an effort not to overwhelm the girl, but it was a little late to back down. With an internal shrug Jack looked towards a pile of rocks by the path and glanced back at Jean. "I show you something weird and say you can do it too, you going to run?"

She might have hesitated, but then he went and suggested she'd chicken out and that got a scowl. "No way, dude. I'm no chicken."

Jack smirked. "I'll hold you to that." He held his hand out to the rocks. They were small, none any bigger than golfballs, but size wasn't going to affect whether or not he made his point. He closed his eyes and reached.

A handful of stones stirred, then rose into the air of their own accord. As far as Jack could tell telepathy wasn't working for anyone, but it didn't seem to be affecting his telekinesis. Still, he lacked the focus to exercise particular control; the subsequent swirling of the rocks was less to impress and more to save him from the effort it would have taken to hold them steady.

Jeannie's first reaction was totally to scream and run, but she'd said she wasn't a chicken and he'd smirked at her, and his eyes were closed, so it wasn't like he could see her as she took a deep breath and planted her feet more firmly. After a few moments she finally said, "Awesome."

Point proven, Jack let the rocks drop like dead weight. "Glad you think so, since you're one of the people who give me pointers. Called telekinesis. You've got it too, or did."

"Me? Get real." Jeannie took a step back, but she wasn't running away and she wasn't afraid. Really. "I mean, they told me about the brain talking, cause that's how the whole brain attacky thing, right? But I can't do anything like that." She waved at the rocks.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "So you accept talking with your brain," he said slowly, "but moving things with it, that's too much. Isn't accepting weird shit kind of an all-or-none deal?"

She shrugged. "Maybe, I guess. Whatever. I still don't think I can do that. Not now, anyways. I'm just a girl. Maybe I grew up and became, like, super doctor lady with crazy brain powers, but really I'm just a little girl."

In light of how this exchange was proceeding, it was mildly terrifying to realize Jean had actually mellowed with age, though it was nice to know the stubbornness was a lifelong constant. Jack also found himself wondering how many times it was possible to drop 'whatever' in the span of one conversation. It was just unfortunate this had only been revealed under these circumstances; as David's least generous part, he would have liked to have the energy to find Scott just to laugh long and hard.

Instead, Jack only shrugged and put his hands back in his pockets. "Suppose you might as well be. Not being the expert, nearest I can figure is when your brain got attacked that whole area shut down. Guess manifestation's the benchmark, and you get to function on what you had before. Might be weird, but at least you're not batshit." One hand extracted itself from the pocket to scratch his ear. "Guess that makes it like reliving your childhood without the benefit of getting to redo anything."

Jeannie looked at him, and the nearest translation of that look into words would probably have been 'cheh-duh'. "Or the benefit of not being, you know, twelve and a half feet tall and made of hideous. Also, I apparently grew up and lost any sense of taste. You should see my wardrobe. Totally gross me out. Ugh."

"Yeah, it's not exactly a Tom Hanks movie." Contemplating what he remembered of 80's fashion, Jack could only assume she was referring to Jean's lack of eye-searing neon. He decided to skate over the hideous comment. It may be Jean standing in front of him, but after dealing with Davey for so long there was no way he couldn't edit his comments to the recipient's appropriate mental age. In no universe could he justify assertions of physical attractiveness to someone who thought she was twelve.

"What, you mean like Splash?" Jeannie frowned, trying to figure what he meant.

Jack frowned, then realized that it was chronologically impossible for Big to have come out before the curtain had fallen across Jean's memories. He cursed. Having the self-identity of a man in his late 30s didn't change the fact he only had the pop culture references of a 25 year old.

"Sort of. Kid makes a wish and becomes an adult." He frowned, raking a hand through his hair. "I was about to say something about ridiculous premise, but in this place the odds of running across a magical fortune-telling machine are higher than you'd hope."

The 'cheh-duh' look was back, as though Jack couldn't be more out there if he tried. "I'm so sure," Jeannie said, shaking her head at him. "Like, you're a mega space cadet. I don't even know what you're talking about."
"Yeah, my brain does spend most of its time in a low orbit around earth at the nearest, but the movie does make sense. Might want to get someone to rent it for you, depending how long the observation period lasts." He paused. "Though you may need some help figuring out how to view it, since, among other things, VHS is on the way out."

"No way! Next your going to tell me, like, MTV isn't cool or something."

Jack shook his head. "Don't want to retroactively scar you for life or anything, but be sure to ask someone to find you MTV Classic."