Bread Crumbs Blitz (open)

It was a nice Sunday evening and Jordan's first class the next day started at ten o'clock. With this knowledge, he decided that it might be a good idea to take some time and walk down to the lake. When he went on trips with his family they often did a lot of hiking and nature walking, and it was something that Jordan missed. There was a nice path back to the lake, and it would only take about half an hour to walk there. He brought a water bottle and a sandwich to have when he was there and headed out.

Along the way, he took the time to stop and look at some of the trees. There were some nice views up in the woods, and he could almost see his dad walking around, snapping pictures of everything. The walk itself was nice, and when he came out at the lake it was stunning in the late afternoon light. He ate his sandwich while sitting on a tree stump near the edge of the water, then started wandering along next to the lake.

He had his mp3 player and was listening to some of his music and thinking about guitar chords, not really paying attention, when something hit him in the back of the head. He unplugged one of his earbuds as he turned around.

An older man wearing glasses came running over, red in the face. Jordan had never seen the guy before, which meant that he probably didn't work at the school. The wanna-be spy had been almost everywhere at the school and had come to at least recognize most faces, even if he hadn't quite gotten all the names pinned down.

The man apologized, and Jordan shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

He was about to turn and walk away, but his curiosity eventually got the better of him. He couldn't pass up an opportunity to try to get some more information. "So, you live in Pilot Ridge? I don't remember seeing you around much. What do you do?"

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and left one earbud in while the other one hung at his chest. His foot tapped in time to the music. He'd gotten used to half-listening to music while half-listening to a conversation, but he hadn't quite realized that it was a gift that not everyone had.

Jordan shrugged. "I'm new here, too. Just came here for school. But I know most of the people up there." It was true--one way or another, he knew most of the staff and a good amount of the students, even if it was only by name.

"An attorney, huh? That's pretty cool." And he vaguely remembered something about there being different types of law... "What kind of lawyer? Are you with the government fighting crime and stuff? Got any really interesting cases, or is it all boring stuff?" Surely being an attorney wasn't all that dull, otherwise no one would do it. Right? Because surely people only did jobs that they enjoyed.

"Oh, my music?" Jordan said, pointing to his earbud. "It's, um..." He was a little embarrassed. There was some of the newer music that he enjoyed, but what Jordan really liked was country music and blues. He was a little ashamed to admit this usually and would often make up answers about what he was actually listening to, but this guy was old and probably wouldn't care.

"It's Johnny Cash," he said finally. "Folsom Prison Blues. I like the guitar on it. Johnny Cash has some really good music, good beat. What kind of stuff do you like listening to?" He knew that his parents listened to lots of old 80s music, and some of that was okay. Maybe he'd recognize some of what this guy knew, though he doubted it.

"I'm Jordan, by the way," he threw in. He was often a bit tardy with introductions, but he did eventually get there. And now that this was turning into a real conversation he thought he might as well put it in. And maybe the old guy would reciprocate.

"It's not so bad, really. My uncles work at the school, and I have some cousins in the area. Plus my parents live only a couple hours away, and there's internet and stuff. I don't mind so much. It's harder for some kids, though." Jordan shrugged again. "Especially some of the little kids. I've heard some really bad stories about kids who've freaked out, but it's really important, I think. Plus everyone has fun after a little while. It's not so bad." At least in his view it wasn't, though he'd never really seen anything else. There weren't any other options for metahumans.

Jordan had to stifle a bit of a yawn when the guy started talking about "human rights" and whatnot. He was sure it was important, but he wasn't really sure how it applied to him or anything. Still, the guy seemed really excited about the whole thing, so he managed to work up to say, "Wow, that sounds really good. I guess you're kind of like a hero or something." And he gave a good-natured smile to show that he was paying attention.

He didn't recognize all of the different musicians that the older man mentioned, but a couple seemed familiar. He nodded as he listened to the list of names, genuinely interested at this point. He tried to remember the names of those that he didn't know so he could try to look them up later online, specifically when no one else was around to make fun of him. "Paul Simon," he said, musing. "Paul Simon, Simon...wait, isn't that like, Simon and Garfunkel?" He'd listened to his parent's music with Simon and Garfunkel and enjoyed that a bit, but he wasn't sure that he'd gotten the right guy. He might be making a total fool of himself here, but he supposed it didn't matter much.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Bernstein," Jordan said, sticking out his hand. "Or is there a special title for lawyers? Bernstein A.D. or something."

"Yeah, yeah," Jordan said, nodding to most of what the guy was saying. "I'm pretty lucky, I guess. And it would be cool if everyone could go to school with their families...but what about people who don't have good families? And people with powers need help with that, and there can't be schools for every town or whatever. Plus, I think it's kind of cool, because you can make friends here and not have your parents following you all the time. I think there's lots of people who are happy here." With family working at the school, Jordan felt that he had to defend it. It all worked, right? There was no way his uncles would work for a school that was actually hurting kids.

Jordan didn't think of his plumber as a hero, and he thought this man wasn't very smart for comparing himself to a plumber. Did that mean he had to wear a uniform and make house calls, or was it just that he had to deal with a lot of crap? When the attorney started going off about minorities and fringes, though, he completely lost the thirteen-year-old from Hammel. He vaguely caught a mention about worshiping fitness and home improvement for ethnic people, but he didn't see how everything tied into being a lawyer. Still, though, he didn't want to seem rude, so he kept nodding and looking very thoughtful. When the man finished his speech, Jordan said solemnly, "Wow, that all sounds very difficult. You are really great for working on all that. I don't think most people would want to. I don't think I ever could." And he silently prayed that would be the end of the speech.

He was proud of himself for identifying the musical artist correctly. "I listen to some Simon and Garfunkel stuff, but not Simon on his own, really. My parents had Simon and Garfunkel CDs, and I listened to those. And my mom had Johnny Cash. All my music I got from them, really, 'cause I can't afford to buy my own stuff. But I do like some of that older stuff. It sounds better than rap and everything. Better music, I think, and good guitar stuff in some of them."

Jordan had been entirely joking when he suggested giving Mr. Bernstein a title at the end of his name. He was surprised to hear that there actually were titles you could give to lawyers. He understood, though, why no one would want to use those. They just sounded stupid. He did vaguely suspect that Mr. Bernstein might be treating him a little like a kid as they stood there, but he also knew that he couldn't exactly expect anything else. Fact was, he was a kid, and he would be treated as such until he grew up. For now he could only stand there and look serious as they started off a new conversation.

"I like music," he said after a moment's thought. "And I'm getting into some new stuff with technology." Spying. But it wasn't spying if you said it out loud and told everyone about it. What was the appropriate way to say you were a spy without actually saying you were a spy? Ah, he had it now. "I'm thinking of working for the government when I get older. Some really important jobs I think I could do. Special skills, that sort of thing."