technobabble (Jessica)

[Jonah Soto]

One of the downsides to having an expensive hobby was that, while you got to appreciate all of the awesome new shiny toys, you rarely got to own said shiny toys. This was especially true for Jonah, who was only in the area because someone else was paying for him to be there. Even after two years, he still hadn't gotten used to just looking at all the new electronics, instead of playing with them.

Times like this, where he was staring down a display model of an ipad, made his hands twitchy. He had said that he would give up on stealing things, if only to avoid causing any more trouble for his mom. But after years of just taking whatever he needed, the habit was just so hard to break. He had been good so far at Hammel, but each temptation brought him closer to stealing once again.

"No," he said quietly to himself as he set the ipad down, "I don't need this." To anyone else, it might have sounded like he was convincing himself he didn't need to buy that ipad. But in actuality, he was convincing himself that he didn't need to stick it under his jacket and run out of there. He could hold off on stealing things if it wasn't absolutely necessary. He at least had that much discipline.

Once he had set it down, Jonah look around quickly, trying to see if anyone had seen his internal debate. Not that he had done anything particularly suspicious, but he was used to people automatically thinking he was up to something. He was ready to defend himself, should anyone question him about his motives for eying that ipad.

[Jessica Pruitte]

"Of COURSE you need it." A voice argued back. "We all need these, do you have any idea how much information they hold?" Not that she needed it. Jess didn't even like iProducts as far as that went. They were over priced, and people used them as a status symbol rather than anything else.

The girl standing near enough to him to have heard him looked amused as she held a few items loosely in her grip. These were items that she had no real intention of paying for, but wanted to see what she could get away with. There were real-world problems, and real-world consequences if she got caught, but she didn't want to pay and needed a distraction. In a huge way. Even after getting to Hammel life hadn't been as roses and sunshin as she wanted. Life was lacking. Her mother was still a manipulative bag, her dad just as bad, and she had to share her Uncle with his roommate. She had to share Jared with his other friends. And worst of all she had to share Chase with his husband.

It wasn't fair.

Arching her eyebrows at the other youth, Jess took him in and did a quick 'search' for his likeness using keywords on google. It wasn't an exact science, and it gave her headaches like nothing else, but she wanted to know and presently didn't give a flying rats ass. It was a distraction.

[Jonah Soto]

Jonah had a record longer than his arm, no official documents about that would show up on google since he was a minor and those records were set to be sealed once he turned 18. What did turn up was a facebook, a twitter, and a few articles about stuff he had been involved in at school. Nothing too bad at first, though further down on the searches were articles about petty thefts in a specific neighborhood in Chicago with descriptions that were suspiciously close to what he looked like. That neighborhood happened to be the same one where the school was, too.

Jonah wasn't aware of the fact that Jessica was searching for him, though, so he just responded how he normally would. In this case, 'normal' meant that he was frowning at Jessica and wondering what kind of world she was from where someone would think a ipad was a necessity. "Books hold lots of information too," he said, trying to make a point, "They cost a lot less, too."

He didn't think his words would get through to her, though. If she was really going to buy all the stuff she was holding, then she had enough money that she didn't have to worry about price. He was jealous of that kind of life, he would have loved to buy all the things he ever wanted.

[Jessica Pruitte]

"Depends on how many books you wanna keep around. The iPad will hold them for you, and in the long run be less expensive." Justification, just another specialty brought to you by a petty con-artist with a grudge against parents. But weren't they all mostly like that in the end, when everything else was stripped away? Wasn't that what the books said?

He was interesting, this Jonah. But, dots danced in her field of vision the further she searched and she had to stop. Pressing the heel of a hand against first one eye, and then the other, before pulling out the acrid BC powder packet and dumping it under her tongue. So what if he was right there, and watching, it didn't matter, what mattered was the splitting light-sensative migraine she was developing after the jaunt through the internet.

As she had reached into her bag for the BC Powder, though, two of the items she'd held fell in. If anyone were paying close enough attention they might have noticed. If not, with all of the things she'd been holding, they would be none the wiser.

"Besides," Jessica continued, "What's the point of just looking. That's sadistic torture. I never understood the whole window shopping thing. Why would someone do that to themselves?"

[Jonah Soto]

"Some people don't have a choice, I imagine," Jonah said simply, not even bothering to state that he was one of those people who didn't have a choice. Not any legal choice, at least. He still had nearly a year until he could legally work, so he would just have to wait until then to earn money and buy cool electronics.

He was confused by the packet of powder and why she was eating it right in the middle of the store. He was sure it wasn't drugs, not even the most messed up coke head would do drugs so blatantly in front of everyone. It had to be something else, medicine probably, but he couldn't think of anything that would require suddenly taking a powder to feel better.

Jonah decided not to ask, because whatever it was probably wasn't worth him sticking his nose into. Maybe it really would turn out to be drugs, that's just what he needed to add to his already tarnished reputation. Nobody would believe him if he said he wasn't involved in anything with this girl, especially not if he asked and got an answer from her. So instead he returned to the topic of the books, though he was still eying her cautiously as he said, "And it's not about the books anyway, it's about how most people don't have that kind of dough on them at one time."