xp_logs | Julian & Jan: Maybe Not Such a Great Idea (backdated)

Jan drops in after Julian's boastful journal post to persuade him to not put his electrically charged self into a crowded theater full of Harry Potter fan-girls & boys.

((OOC: Backdated to Tuesday afternoon))

A few hours had passed since Julian had been released from the medlab. He was now wrapped up in a blanket and wishing that he hadn't made fun of those adds for Snuggies on television since it was very hard to use his computer while wrapped up like this. Several times he'd slipped a hand out, shocking the machine and shutting it down. Those times, he knew he was lucky as the hard drive wasn't erased. At least water didn't bother his new power set or the squishy new organs that Keller swore he could feel inside of himself.

No such luck though, another slip, another zap and the power on the laptop cut off, restarting. Julian shouted an obscenity and stopped short of tossing the computer across the room.

A knock on his door was heard. "Hey, mind if I come in?" came Jan's voice.

Hoping he wasn't in trouble, Jules tried to get to the door. Unfortunately, the tangle of blankets were not interested in cooperating. "Um...come in?"

"Sure thing." Jan walked into the room, noting Julian's unusual covering. "This is the kind of situation where it's weird and awkward and stuff for me to ask a silly question like 'How are you doing?' isn't it? Because, I mean, it's the summer and you're all wrapped up in a blanket. And everyone here's already gone through and dealt with manifesting new powers, and now some of you are having to deal with it all over again. But, you know, yeah.... I'm still checking in on you to see how you're doing. I went through the same thing myself, with the not being able to touch things without going all ZAP! but I was able to stop it with just a pair of gloves."

Shedding a bit of insulation, Julian made a spark jump between his thumb and index finger. "The insulation helps me use my computer...sorta." He nodded toward the edge of the desk where the burnt out remnants of two gloves sat, no longer smoldering. "Putting those on didn't go too well...turns out synthetic fabrics are pretty flammable."

"You just automatically zap everything you touch, yeah?" Jan asked sympathetically, pulling a chair over to sit by Julian and sitting in it backwards, the back of the chair facing the boy. "I just had to worry about keeping myself from shocking people. Well, not that that's really just 'just', you know. it was a pretty big thing, and I had to wear gloves pretty much all of the time before I came here, or I had to be really careful not to touch anyone. Also, I had the wings, and I had to make sure no one noticed those, too. You've spoken to Jean-Phillipe about how he handled things after manifesting?"

"No," he replied gloomily. "That would make too much sense." He drew his hand back into the folds of the blankets, glad to be able to turn up the air conditioning.

"Maybe you want to give that a try, then?" Jan suggested. "I don't think it would hurt, and I'm pretty sure it would help. I mean, you want to take Dori to go see the new Harry Potter movie, right? Tonight or tomorrow? It might help to try to have some ideas before you go out in a crowd. I've had experience with this, and I know how hard it can be to avoid being touched or touching someone in a crowd, and I'm pretty sure the first several showing of Harry Potter will be full of excited fanboys and fangirls."

"Another good point, Jan," it made sense, but Julian didn't want to let down Doreen. "Maybe I'll just have Fred take her? He offered." Leaning over he carefully picked up the laptop and turned it back on.

"Is that what Dori wants? I think she asked you to take her, didn't she?" Jan pointed out. "I mean, I'm not saying it might not be the right thing to do right now. I think maybe it is, that tonight's a bit early to be going out when you haven't got these powers under control. But, whether you take her or not, don't you at least want to see if you can not need to wear a blanket all of the time? I don't want to take away your fun, really, I just kind of know what you're going through right now, except I know Jean-Phillipe knows exactly what you're going through since he's actually gone through this before. And then maybe you can take Dori to see Harry Potter another time and maybe go to the monster movie marathon this weekend, and you won't have to worry about zapping anyone?"

"I guess that could," the computer was almost started back up when a small crack turned it back off. Julian sighed and held up the dead computer, "Would you mind setting this on the desk and turning it on?"

"Um..." Jan eyed the computer warily. "In the name of not destroying property, maybe we should keep you away from the computer for a bit? Do you zap books? And, er, do you zap though things, like computers? Because maybe we don't really want to find out how our two electricity-type powers interact through this laptop? I'm thinking it wouldn't be pretty."

Ruffled, Julian nodded and set the computer back down on the bed. "Yeah, chalk full of good ideas tonight." Of course, once she was gone he'd be back on it again. "If you see Fred, let him know I'm looking for him?"

Jan nodded. "Sure. You know... maybe there's a voice activation system you could use? Or I could type something for you? Or you could go see Fred, you can go on your own or I could go with you if you want, people know there's crazy stuff going on, so unless the sparks are just totally leaping from your fingers and jumping out at people, I'm pretty sure you don't have to stay cooped up in your room all day."

"Yeah, about that," Julian held out his hand, keeping his fingers a little bit apart and winced as a blue arc of light zapped between his fingers. "I'm afraid I am if I get too close, hence the insulation."

"Yeah." Jan sighed, memories of what it was like after her first manifestation. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Julian? Do you need me to bring you anything? Talk to anyone? Get someone to come and see you? I want to help, really I do. It's no trouble at all, I promise," she added, recalling Callie's dismissal of offers of help to obtain Nutella.

There was something he needed to do but wasn't up to yet. "Actually...do you think you could slip a note under Callie's door for me? Just," he shrugged, "I don't know, let her know it wasn't her fault."

Jan gave another nod, smiling. "Sure thing! Just give me the note, and I'll make sure it gets to her. Unless I need to write it, too... and then just tell me what you want it to say."

Taking a pen and a piece of paper, Julian scribbled out a quick note in a shaky hand.

Callie,

I'm fine. Please come visit soon.

You may want to bring a lightning rod.

-Jules

Folding it in half, he handed it to Jan. "I appreciate it," he smiled in his typical charming fashion, "it was nice of you to stop in, I think I'll just go ahead and read a book like you suggested."

Jan had the feeling she was being had, but grinned back at Julian as she took the note. "You've got one here to read or should I go check out something in the library for you?"

"No no, I have some comics that Doreen lent me a while back, trying to turn me into a nerd, ya know?" Julian winked and opened the door. "Thanks, Jan." He shut the door behind her as she left and immidiately walked over to his computer, picking it up and setting it on the desk. With a sigh he turned it on again, keeping his hands off the keyboard as it slowly whired to life.