Lookout Below!!! (AJ tags Jared and Izzy)

[Aaron Walker]

It didn’t take long after AJ and Jared’s complete failure of a prank on Danicca for AJ to start dreaming up for their next big adventure. Sure, they had come close to almost being slain at the hands of the ogress, but that was no reason to stop having fun. Still he figured this time they should steer clear of pranks and stick to just pure excitement. Just to be on the safe side.

So after several trips to the local toy store and a quick run by the janitor’s office to borrow a bucket, AJ ran around the school to find his best bud. He was prepared to repeat “Just trust me. It’ll be awesome.” and “We’re not hurting anyone.” a few times to get Jared agreed that this idea had no way of them ending up trapped by a pair of angry siblings.

Five minutes later, AJ was dragging a five gallon bucket full to the brim of bouncy balls of all colors and sizes to the top floor in one of the stairwells. Several times on the way up, he had started giggling and almost dropped the bucket, but eventually he made it to the top.

“Ready?” he asked Jared, pure joy in his eyes. “On three…..One….Two….Three!” Tipping the bucket over the top railing, he sent the balls flying down the stairs. A few rebounded off of the landing below the two boys, causing AJ to cover his head for protection. But most of the balls made their way down, gaining momentum, bashing into the walls, and creating a literal rainfall of flying rubber. It was beautiful.

Unfortunately, someone chose that exact moment to enter the stairwell at the bottom floor. Poor soul.

[Jared Park]

True, Jared’s experience with the ogress and her giant of a bodyguard did make the boy a little too scared to try anything else. Considering how just the sight of Matt can send him cowering to the far side of their dorm suite and render him mute for the entire time he’s there, it’s not surprise how furious older brother had emotionally scarred him. Permanently at that.

They were at fault, yes, but he argues that he didn’t have to be that intense. ‘Cause seriously, if looks could kill, Matt’s a mass murderer already. And he’s not talking about good looks on this one.

Aaron’s suggestions were met with quite the resistance at first, but since Jared couldn’t really say no to anyone, much less to his best bud, well, he happily went along with it. Water balloons are indeed a whole lot tamer than their room-invasion plan. Getting wet isn’t really as bad as having talc powder shoved up your nostrils, right?

The Canadian had a five-gallon bucket filled with water balloons of his own. And boy was it a challenge to carry it all up. AJ carrying them with relative ease made things just a bit harder for the older boy. Is AJ working out whenever he’s free? Or am I really just that out of shape?

“You really sure no one will beat the crap out of us for this?” But before the younger boy could even answer his question, he’s already sent his share tumbling down the stairs, so Jared had no choice but to follow suit.

Jared did feel a little better when he saw how amusing the water-filled balloons went. They just seemed too fun for words. A grin slowly crept on his face and he was all but ready to congratulate Aaron for a prank well done when the splat of someone being pelted by their balloons resonated through the landings.

“Oh shoot!” squeaked Jared, quickly covering his mouth with both his hands as he took a peek down. “Should we make a run for it?”

ooc:
No good. >.<. I'm sorry. D;.
- Jam

[Izzy James]

Fate must hate Izzy. Or think it's fun to mess with him. Because why else would he just be walking along, minding his own business, when a sudden deluge of bouncy balls hits him? Dozens upon hundreds of balls were colliding off walls, bouncing on Izzy and rebounding to bounce off him again. The blonde stumbled along, flinging his arms up around his head to try and protect himself from the incoming swarm.

His power activated too, as it often did whenever Izzy was under stress. Now, if things went well, he'd speed up his personal time and/or slow down the time of the objects around him, making it that much easier for him to climb the stares. If Fate felt like being cruel, then Izzy's powers would suddenly kick the world around him into overdrive, meaning that the bouncing balls would become so many little balls of pure pain.

Guess which happened?

The tiny bubble of accelerated time around Izzy looked strange from the outside. The balls about it zoomed about, moving at such an accelerated rate that they were little more than blurs, looking like angry insects under an upturned glass. Stranger still, the moment they reached around ten feet from Izzy, they returned to their normal time, mostly bouncing away.

Izzy stumbled his way through the storm, managing to stifle some of his louder cries. He'd just made it to the first landing, convinced that it couldn't be any worse, when the first water balloon hit.

"Not this again!' yelled Izzy. The first few plowed into him, before Izzy flung his hand up, focusing with all his might. He peeked open one eye, and saw that a cone around his hand had slowed tremendously in time. The balloons still moved, but they were so slow as to be comical. Gasping, Izzy grabbed one, and stumbled a few steps up, collapsing, soaked and bruised and holding evidence as to what had just happened.

[Aaron Walker]

AJ was glad Jared had agree to go along with the bouncy ball plan (even adding to the enjoyment by suggesting they bring along water balloons as well). Although he had done as much struggling up the stairs with his bucket, AJ was too excited by the idea of tons of bouncy balls falling through the air to really notice the weight.

"That was the best, right?" He said, punching Jared softly in the shoulder. "Like Christmas. Or maybe the Fourth of July. Or maybe like getting fireworks for Christmas! Or ---" He was already starting to pick up the balls close to him for a repeat performance when he heard a cry from the bottom of the stairwell.

He turned to Jared with an expression similar to a deer in headlights. "Oh man. We're gonna die...again."

"If we run away, while screaming 'I'm sorry' do you think it will be a quick death? Cuz I have plans for later," AJ said. I didn't even get a chance to hug Trouble goodbye before I left. Poor little guy. He'll never know what happened to me. He'll grow up his whole life without anyone to roll around in the dirt with. And then he'll be a old depressed dog who never wags his tail or anything.

He had already taken a step towards the nearest exit, but at the thought of poor Trouble, he stopped suddenly. "Wait, we can't just run away." AJ said to Jared. "I can't stand the thought of a sad dog." Without waiting to see if Jared would follow, AJ sped down the stairs.

Near the bottom he hit a puddle of water and tumbled into Izzy. Standing up quickly he attempted to help the boy to his feet. "Izzy?" he said, confused and concerned. "What are you doing at the bottom of our rubber waterfall? That's not safe."

[Jared Park]

A splatter here, a bounce-boing-bounce there. Truly the sea of bouncy balls and water balloons was quite the sight. Whatever reservations he had about participating into another one of Aaron’s crazy schemes vaporized almost immediately. Now he knows why the boy’s just so excited about doing it.

“Totally! We should do it again.” See? Amazing how AJ’s pranks can make him change his mind that quick. “Err what? Fourth of July? What’s that?” the boy asked, completely and honestly baffled. He pouted for a bit, his eyebrows meeting in a frown as he scratched his chin (as if that would help power up those long-dead brain cells of his). “Oh you mean like the ones we have on Canada Day?”

The boy didn’t mean to sound so ignorant. Despite living in the States for a year already, his grasp of American holidays still fall short from time to time. Like Thanksgiving, for example. He still thinks it’s just a month away.

Jared’s hands grabbed hold of the railing in an effort to lower the panic and anxiety he’s feeling right now. “Something tells me pranking isn’t really for us, is it not?” He hoped a little humor would help him feel a bit better, but the boy’s voice (which seemed a little too angry for comfort) made things worse.

“Sad dog wha-AJ!” The boy was running down the stairs too fast that he didn’t have the chance to grab hold of him. And he supposedly had the longer legs and arms. “Hey! Stop you!” He was just about to suggest they just go the opposite direction and act like it didn’t happen. Darn it.

And it was worse than he thought it’d be.

Izzy must’ve fallen while they were running down the steps since he sounded like he’s still up and about when he first groaned. That, or Jared’s heart was just beating too fast for him to hear anything else. He promptly knelt down started helping the time controller up, looking around for injuries.

So far none. He’s safe. They’re safe.

Taking a cue from AJ (which he thinks was playing the innocent card; so sneaky of the younger boy really), Jared tried to keep his prying at a minimum. (He apparently didn’t hear the ‘our’ part in the boy’s speech). “Were you hurt? And why again? This happened to you before?”

Did Danicca do this before too?

[Izzy James]

"I was trying to use the stairs," said Izzy. He took the offered hands, using both Jared and AJ to help get up. A bit of wincing from the bruises, but a quick check determined that was all Izzy had to worry about. Nothing that wouldn't fix itself in a few days.

More checking as Izzy answered the next question. "Again meaning it's not the first time my powers have kicked my butt about this stuff," he poked a purple spot on his arm, wincing. "I mean, this is kinda cool, actually. Which one of you thought it up?"

He was looking from one to another, still poking his own bruise, till he realized that hurt and he really shouldn't be doing that. He tried looking over other areas, only to discover yet more bruises. Maybe telling them that this was cool wasn't the best way to go? Then again, wasn't like it was there fault that Izzy's powers had turned their harmless prank into an attack by a particularly bent villain.

"Least last time it was just water," he muttered, before looking at the two, clearly wanting the details. He deserved that much at least, right?

[Aaron Walker]

AJ was in no way trying to play the innocent card. Not that he wouldn’t be up for trying it. His brain just wasn’t working that fast, or at least not in that direction. Besides it seemed Izzy had already figured out they were the culprits.

“Well the balloons were all him,” AJ said, pointing his finger towards Jared and smiling proudly. He was so glad his friend was such a genius. “I’m the one with the –“ he stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Izzy prodding his bruises. “Ouch, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. It can’t feel good.”

Even though his roommate was covered in purple spots and soaked, AJ was still pretty proud of his plan. “I figured since one bouncy ball falling five feet was fun then 50 falling 50 feet would be 50 times as fun.” He scratched his head looking around the stairwell. “But I think I got closer to 75 or so…and I’m no good at judging distance. Maybe it was 75 times more fun.”

“Maybe you should stay away from water,” AJ offered. “Well except for when you need a shower, cuz that’s kinda necessary or something…” He looked to Jared for help, maybe his friend was better with math and explaining their adventures than he was.

[Jared Park]

In Jared’s mind, they were still innocent in Izzy’s eyes. And it’s not just because of the whole ‘innocent until proven guilty’ thing. For one, he tried to put himself in Izzy’s situation and he has a strange feeling that he won’t be thinking that the two people who helped him up would be the ones who pranked him in the first place (then again he’s being a bit too dim lately). That, and he and AJ don’t look menacing enough to be vile pranksters, do they?

Surely they’re not as uglyscary as Danicca, he tells himself.

“Well, I wouldn’t blame you. You’re new right? The West Wing stairs are to be avoided after school, since things like these happen a lot.” A definite lie, which is surprising since the boy managed to keep a straight face throughout. “Just like how you shouldn’t use the third cubicle of the fourth floor washrooms. Since someone supposedly hanged himself above it and you’d feel his foot poking your forehead.” Despite being a meta-school, Hammel apparently isn’t safe from all those ghost stories running around.

And in the middle of his rambling, it seemed, that they’ve been found out. Not good.

“I’m with AJ on this one,” he nodded as he helped Izzy up, trying his best to evade the purple spots, “The water and the bruise-poking thing.” Because not bathing is inexcusable, no matter how much misfortune water has given to you. “Need us the lead you to the infirmary?”

“And thanks, I guess,” gulped the boy, shyly smiling about that compliment with the prank, “It was AJ’s balls that fell on you. He’s the genius. I’m just his loyal follower.”

Yes, follower. Not bitch. He asks that people stop thinking about him and AJ like that.

[Izzy James]

"Right, avoid the west wing," said Izzy. He paused for a moment, his face contorting with thought. "You mean like in Beauty and the Beast?"

Unfortunately for Izzy, the next thing to happen was one of those weird little time-displacing moments in a conversation. Where he thought he was at one place in the conversation, only to find that, instead, he was at another. Usually the conversation just kept moving without him. In this case, he missed everything regarding poking and being taken to the infirmary, caught pieces of the "he did it," and got the last parts in their entirety.

Enough to totally fake it, in other words.

"Nah, I don't think it's really the water, or even the pranks," Izzy waved his hand at the bedlam around him, "'cuz this is awesome."

No, it was his own failing ability. If it hadn't randomly activated, or randomly moved in the wrong direction, or hit just the right area, then Izzy probably would have been just fine. So he really didn't see the point in blaming everyone else for something that was clearly his fault. He poked a bruise again, as if to remind him of exactly that point.

"So you're a pair of prank masters or something?" asked Izzy. That sounded vaguely familiar. "Cool. Uh, did you say your names or something? I'm Izzy."

He needed to focus, or he was just going to miss everything in the conversation at this rate.

[Aaron Walker]

When Jared started listing other places in the school one should avoid, AJ’s curiousity was interested. He made a mental note to force Jared to hang out all night in the forth floor bathrooms. After their evening by the campfire, AJ hadn’t had a chance to tell any more ghost stories and listen to Jared scream like a girl. He smiled at the thought. He caught back up with the conversation around him when Jared mentioned the infirmary.

“Are you hurt that bad?” he asked, worried. “Cuz I’ve already sent one other student there. I’m not sure they’d be too happy with me if I bring in another one already.” He was starting to wonder if they kept any sort of records on that sort of thing. Probably. When Izzy started prodding at his bruises again, AJ reached out to grab his hand. “Dude,” he said. “That can’t feel good.”

When Izzy asked his name, AJ looked at him confused. He was pretty sure this boy was his roommate, but now he was starting to wonder if maybe it was just some kid who looked a lot like Izzy. “I’m….uh….AJ…” he said, walking around the boy to get a good look at him. “You’re…not…Izzy? Wait! Are you one of those switch-a-roo people?” he asked excitedly. “Can you turn into…uh…Mr…um…someone really tall?” AJ beamed at the boy, he’d always thought it would be cool to turn into someone taller than himself (which was pretty much everyone) whenever he needed to reach something up high.

“My loyal follower?” AJ asked with pride. “Awesome! I'm a leader!"

((sorry this is so late))

[Jared Park]

“Beauty and the Beast-say what?” the boy asked in confusion. While it did bug him a bit that he didn’t know what Izzy was referring to (he’s a big Disney fan himself, him growing up in cartoons and all), he was thrown off more when he saw the interest seeping into his fellow prankster. And yes, he’s been around the boy so much that he knows what that little twitch means and what that slight shift does.

He needs to figure out a viable excuse to prevent AJ from dragging him to the washrooms now. Why does he have to say it in front of AJ anyway?

Jared took Izzy’s silence as a ‘yes’ and began leading the group towards the infirmary. It wasn’t really that far off, so he figures they’d be there in, say, two or three minutes. He hopes. “We can always say that he slipped from the wet floor and we just happened to stumble upon him, right?” Which means they effectively diverted the blame from them towards Izzy’s incompetence. Amazing isn’t it?

The Korean kid’s worry spiked up suddenly when Izzy asked for their names. “Wait, you forgot who we are?” He had to stop walking and face the younger boy, shock and paranoia written all over his face. He wasn’t really all that worried about the time controller’s injuries before – since they seemed like bruises and all anyway, no broken bones – but if memory loss was suddenly in play, well, it looks like they’re in deep trouble.

“Are you serious? He’s your roommate. And I’m like an informal settler in your room lately.” He’s bunking with Aaron for quite a while now, since he’s still scared Dani might kill him in his sleep. “Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god. Maybe we should go to Dr. Neville first?”

Giving someone amnesia was never part of his life goals after all.

ooc:
Crappy. I'm sorry Fate and Abiii. D;.
- Jam

[Izzy James]

Maybe Izzy had been hit harder than he'd figured. Because he recognized AJ, having, you know, lived with the guy for some time. He'd never actually caught the other kid's name, but he did look vaguely familiar. Probably one of the several friends that Izzy's roommates kept bringing in.

"Whoa, wait a moment there, I remember him," said Izzy, pointing at AJ, "and I kinda remember you, but I don't know if I ever really caught your name."

Yeah, that should be alright, he hoped. Because about now Izzy was seriously beginning to wonder if the barrage had mixed with his already skippy brain and done some serious damage. Why else would he ask something like that? Had his brain reversed itself back a few weeks or something? Man, Izzy needed to get his ability under control, if it was going to do stuff like this.

To shake himself out of the stupor, Izzy prodded a bruise again. Another wince, and he was looking at the other two, who both seemed quite concerned about Izzy, if the looks on their faces were any judge.

"I'm fine, and I'm still Izzy. My brain just," Izzy waved his hand around his head, then sighed. He closed his eyes and looked to the ceiling. Telling everyone his brain was messed up was not high on Izzy's "to-do" list. "Look, why don't we just start picking up all this stuff? If that scary janitor guy catches us, we're screwed."

Izzy waved at the debris around, hoping it would be sufficient enough to distract the other two from his would-be amnesia.

{Fate feels like idiot for writing that whole what are your names bit now; hopefully I handled it well enough. Sorry about that}

[Aaron Walker]

For a moment AJ was as worried as Jared about Izzy’s current state of mind. He grabbed Izzy by the shoulder and gave him a concerned look. “I’m AJ,” he said, speaking extremely slow. “Aaron. James. Walker. Do you remember your name?”

When Izzy stopped the conversation to prove he didn’t have amnesia, AJ threw his arms around his roommate. “Yay!’ he said, twirling around with Izzy a few times. “His brain still works!”

Suddenly realizing that spinning Izzy around just after his ‘incident’ with water and bouncy balls wasn’t the best idea in the world, AJ jumped back from the boy. “Oh, sorry,” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets. “And this is Jared. He’s my best bud.” He flashed Jared a huge grin. Truth was, AJ had never really noticed that he was lonely around Hammel before he’d met Jared. But that didn’t mean he didn’t appreciate having him around.

AJ started to yell at Izzy for prodding his bruises again, but as he was pulling his hands out of his pocket he felt something sharp. “Ow!” he said, sticking his finger into his mouth. “What the heck was that?” He glared at his pocket for a moment before turning back to the two boys.

“Right, clean up,” AJ said with his finger still in his mouth. He smiled at the boys. “Too bad none of us are rubber manipulators. Cuz that would really come in handy right about now.” He giggled before starting to pick up the bouncy balls near him.

[Jared Park]

Ok. No amnesia. Problem averted, right?

“Dude, you scared the beejeebus out of me.” Yes, a perfectly apt situation for the slang he’s been hearing so much and Jared just had to murder the word. He let out a sigh of relief, giving Izzy’s arm a playful punch as his heart rate slowly went back to normal. “But just to be sure, what’s the quadratic formula?” Jared heard his brother saying that it’s the thing he asks his friends to know if they’re drunk or not. Granted his hyung’s friends were mostly smart like him, Jared figures it could apply to anyone else. Right?

Though for the record, the boy doesn’t know the formula at the top of his head. It took Jared near a minute to remember it and an extra half second mouthing it while trying to visualize it in his mind before asking Izzy about it.

“Jared Park,” he added. Amazing how it was Dani’s prank that somehow brought them together. And there they were pranking the girl who introduced them to each other. So much for being grateful. “I stay in your room a lot since my room’s been made as the permanent den of the High Queen Ogress. She’s terrible I tell you.” And with her and Robbie supposedly going out, well, he couldn’t rely on the blonde to rescue him anymore.

Maybe he should ask AJ (or even Izzy, if he likes) if he could help him find Dani’s love potion stock and destroy it. Because there’s no way Robbie’d fall for her unless it was magic, right?

“Do we really have to?” the boy whined as they started to walk back. God was the floor soaked. Balloon pieces scattered all around. Rubber balls rolling in all directions. They’re lucky no one’s passed by yet else they’d have another injury on their hands. “The supply closet’s over there. You think it’s open?”

Urgh. Responsibility. How Jared hates thee.

ooc:
Jam thinks Fate has nothing to apologize about, right Abi? ^_^.
- Jam

[Izzy James]

"Yeah, I remember my name," muttered Izzy, feeling well and truly embarrassed from AJ's and Jared's reactions. They seemed to be acting like he'd survived a terrible incident, instead of just being on the receiving end of an epic prank. While it was certainly true that Izzy had forgotten where he was going, he wasn't traumatized. No, he'd been through much, much worse than this before.

"Nice to meet you---wait, is that the math thing, with the triangles?" asked Izzy, well and truly confused. What good was remembering the quadratic formula? Had he even learned that yet? He'd just been in algebra or something...

Wait, back to the balls and stuff. Izzy found himself looking around, frowning at the mess. They'd done all this, and planned it well enough for the timing and the effect, but they hadn't figured on the clean-up? Seriously? That seemed like a very necessary step in the whole prank-planning process. Then again, you could hardly blame pranksters for being immature and not thinking ahead.

"Yeah, we really have to," said Izzy, not adding the "you two part." No reason to be tense about this. Instead, Izzy began walking around, picking up the balls and wincing every once in a while. Maybe the whole being hit by dozens of balls going at various velocities hadn't been as pleasant as he'd imagined.

Didn't make the prank less legendary though.