Hey I Just Met You (Caroline)

[Jean Manne]

Jean was ambling around the grounds of Hammel. It was sort of weird, not having RC at his school anymore. His older brother had graduated and gone to college and he was probably going to marry Reggie which was awesome, but that meant that RC was currently having a way cooler and exciting life than he was!

That was just sort of bizarre to think about, to be perfectly honest.

At any rate, Jean liked having friends, and he sort of felt like he wanted some more! That was always a good thing. And so he strolled around the pond enjoying the weather and hoping that he would manage to meet someone who looked cool.

Like that girl over there.

Jean brightened. She looked nice! And really pretty, wow. He absently straightened his shirt collar and trotted over to where she was. He wondered if he should come up with a suave opening line, but ultimately settled for:

"Hi, I'm Jean."

Smooth.

[Caroline Mason]

Caroline was contentedly sitting under a tree by the pond, inspecting the bark for aphids. When she spotted one it was some effort to grab it, but no effort to eat it. Her shoes had been conveniently lost somewhere and her socks had disappeared after she pulled them off. Eventually they would find their way back to her, but for the moment it was a non-issue.

Looking up from the trunk as a voice was greeting her with a name. Or, rather, Caroline assumed he was greeting her and not someone else.

"Hi! I'm Caroline."

Jean. She hadn't met a Jean yet. And oh her gosh his hair! It was wonderful! How neat would it be to crawl around in it as a ladybug? Or just sit on top of it as it bounced? The girl's eyes were glued to the wild and springy strands that stood out at all angles on Jean's marvelous head.

"I love your hair! How do you get it to do that? Do you think mine would?" It was always worth asking.

[Jean Manne]

...Whoa.

Was that girl...eating a bug?

Jean stood there for a moment, trying to decide if that was freakishly weird or completely badass. Finally, he decided that it was probably the most badass thing he had ever seen a girl do, and obviously the correct procedure would be to compliment her about it. "Whoa, are you eating a bug? Hardcore!"

When she complimented his hair, he preened. The easiest way into Jean's good books was to compliment his hair. "Thanks! I like your hair too, it's really shiny." He shrugged at her question about how he got his hair to look like that. "I don't know, it sort of just...does it. I have to comb it every morning though or it gets tangled. Maybe if yours were...a little shorter?" He inspected her hair. "Maybe if you curled it?" It was a thought anyway.

[Caroline Mason]

Looking down at the aphid caught between her fingers, Caroline's face flushed, the darker freckles along her cheeks, nose and neck going that much darker. She had been eating a bug. But Jean... didn't seem to mind? He was either one of the most accepting people in the world, or he ate bugs too!

"They're really good," she mumbled before reaching up to touch the ends of her growing hair. Cuts were rare, trims were probably the most she saw, but every now and then she was able to get a cut from a member of the congregation when they had time.

Shorter though? Eying Jeans hair, Caroline grinned. "I could totally try a perm. See if I can get it to do that." Nevermind that the texture of their hairs was completely different."I'll have to try that." Grinning at him, Caroline offered the aphid. "Do you, uh, do you want it?"

[Jean Manne]

“Huh.” Jean eyed the little bug caught between her fingers. They looked a little tiny, he couldn’t imagine what they tasted like, if anything. “Howcome you eat bugs? Just ‘cause?” Some people did weird things at Hammel, it was just a better idea to figure out if it was because of powers or if it was because they felt like it.

“Oh, maybe!” Jean nodded, only having the vaguest of ideas of what a perm should look like. “A perm should do it. And then maybe a ton of hair gel. Some hair gel is so strong it can give you spikes.” He added knowledgably. He thought hair spikes on the whole looked really silly, but it was useful information nonetheless.

When Caroline offered the aphid to Jean, he considered it for a moment before deciding why not? “Sure!” He gingerly plucked the tiny bug out of Caroline’s fingers and shoved it into his mouth before he could think better of it.

And it…pretty much tasted like nothing. The little bug was too small to really have a taste, which Jean considered a bit of a let-down, but ultimately a huge success. So he grinned at Caroline. “Awesome.”

[Caroline Mason]

Delighted that Jean had taken the bug, Caroline grinned at him. A friend! She'd made so many new friends, but after the one incident with the spider she had been a little less on the friendly side with strangers. Even if they really shouldn't be strangers, not when they were all going to the same school and had to learn the same (essential) stuff.

"Good aren't they!" Caroline was completely unaware that Jean might not have been able to taste the aphid the same way she could. But he'd taken it and eaten it anyway.

Great hair and fun!

"I eat 'em because they're good. I never did before, but since I started the change I just... craved 'em I guess? The same way some people crave chocolate or pickles. The group trainer said it was part of my power. A side effect of sorts. I dunno. I mean, I guess that makes sense, but I dunno."

As for the matter of a perm, she'd have to ask if it was all right. Perms cost money, so did hair gel, and while Father Boe was a good man who had sent her off to Hammel with a small bit of pocket money, she was a ward of Vermont now, not Nebraska.

"Do you like games?" Please, she begged silently, please like games!

[Jean Manne]

Tasting like nothing tasted good enough as far as Jean was concerned, so he grinned and said, "yeah! I thought they would be slimy." It wasn't anything, really. And now he had eaten a bug! He had probably done that before when he was younger, but he didn't remember it. A great triumph for the day!

"Ohh." Jean nodded in understanding. "What's your power?" And then, as a sign of good faith, he pointed to his chest, "Mine's alchemy! I can change metals into other metals."

"Yus." Jean replied when Caroline asked if he liked games. "Games are the best! What kind of games do you like?" This girl was cool.

[Caroline Mason]

Slimy? He'd thought aphids would be slimy? How silly of him! Laughing, Caroline shook her head. "You should try them with the spaghetti. It's amazing!" Her enthusiasm for the new favorite food was genuine. Spaghetti had always had a special place in her heart (and belly), but with aphids! Now that just made an already awesome dish so much better.

When asked about her power, the girl ducked her head for a moment knowing that she hadn't been practicing the way the group trainer wanted. It hurt even still. But at least she didn't change when terrified anymore. She could make it stop now. Which was improvement!

"I'm a shifter. But only into a ladybug. Nothing dangerous." Not like a spider. "But that's so cool! And useful! You... oh my gosh! You are the philosopher's stone!" Pointing at Jean, Caroline squeed excitedly, her talk of games completely forgotten.

[Jean Manne]

“Oh man, I wouldn’t even have thought of that! I didn’t know bugs tasted good with people food!” This was an incredibly important discovery to Jean. Now the possibilities were endless. Bugs didn’t have to even taste good if you could eat them with people food.

Jean looked intrigued. “Oh cooool you can probably spy on people as a ladybug! Or…or win every game of hide and seek ever!”

“Thanks I know!” Jean exclaimed when Caroline made the philosopher’s stone comment. “Except I can’t give anyone eternal youth or anything. And changing things is really hard since I don’t know all the metals. Like, my trainer says I guess the more you know about the metals, the easier it is. But that would mean I would have to practically memorise the entire metal part of the periodic table!” He made a face. “That wouldn’t be cool at all.”

[Caroline Mason]

"Don't even worry about it! You'll get it, I know you will!" Her absolute, and unwavering faith in Jean's ability to learn (regardless of only having known him for the past five minutes) was staunch. "And no one wants eternal youth. Not really. That's what Father Boe says anyway. The people who beg and ask for it don't know what to do on rainy days let alone eternity. They want to look young, sure, but we're all young in God's eyes."

Considering what he'd said about spying on people as a ladybug, Caroline's face contorted. "No, I don't think I'd want to do that. It really hurts when I change. I try really really hard not to. My trainer says that it'll get better, and Miss Mii says it'll get better, and Father Neville, uh... Doctor Neville says it'll get better, but right now it hurts too much. And I like it. I'd rather stay a girl with a weird appetite."

Grinning at Jean, to show she meant no insult, she shrugged. "But maybe one day. We'll see. Does it hurt you when you change metals? Is it only metal or any molecular thingy?"

[Jean Manne]

“Thanks!” Jean said in response to Caroline’s encouragement. Her talk about God was similar enough to the stuff that he heard the rare times he had gone to Church with his parents, so he nodded back easily. “What Church do you go to?” His family was technically Methodist and the four or five times they have ever gone to Church was a Church in Pilot Ridge.

Jean winced. “Ow I didn’t think about it hurting, yowch.” He figured it would make sense, though. Ladybugs and people weren’t even shaped the same way! He made a face just thinking about it. But, Caroline had encouraged him, so he would try to encourage her. “Most powers I hear about are hard, though. You’ll get the hang of it!”

Jean shook his head. “Nope. Sometimes it makes my hands a little warm, but it’s okay. Which is good, my older brother worries about everything anyways ‘cause I get sick sometimes.” Jean didn’t consider his health issues a secret, but RC sometimes overworried.

[Caroline Mason]

"I attend the Catholic church in town, St. Anthony's. I'm in the choir there, and it's beautiful inside." Spotting another aphid Caroline trapped it between her fingers and after a moments consideration let it go again. It was rude to eat in front of other people when there wasn't enough to share.

"You really think I'll get the hang of it?" Earnestly she peered at Jean and decided that he truly believed what he was saying and that yes, she would get the hang of it. With so many people like Jean, Miss Mii, Doctor Neville, Father Boe, and the group trainer having faith in her it was nearly impossible not to have faith in herself.

Besides, God didn't give anyone more than they could handle and if HE decided that she should be a ladybug sometimes, then she should accept that and work on it.

Except it really did hurt.

"It's no fun to be sick." Caroline confided. "But you seem okay now. And if you get sick, if you want, I can bring you soup from the cafeteria and read to you!" Some of the older kids at Boys Town would do that for her when she got sick. Which, admittedly, wasn't all that often, but it was so nice to know that someone cared. "And if you want, right now, we can play tag?"