Getting Physiological (Jared)

[Jared Park]

Jared is the pinch-your-cheeks-till-they-grow-red-just-because-I-find-you-adorable type. He’s also the loudest screamer when it comes to horror movies, probably the first one to cry in sob stories (he cried so hard in Marley and Me), and would be calmed down by an ice cream scoop. He may be a teenager in looks, but he’s definitely a child in the mind. Guess that’s what happens when you get a babied a bit too much. “Oh gosh. Six, not seven. I guess I should really work on my math,” he said, simply smiling his embarrassment away. “But still, that is big.” Being the youngest in that brood must really suck. Too much to live up to and all. Or at least that’s what Jared thinks. He laughed rather loudly when Edith referred to them as monsters. She doesn’t look like a monster, but should he refer to him and his siblings too, he’d probably use that to describe them too. “Oh, so you’re the eldest of the six? And the only girl? How do you manage it?” he asked with genuine amusement, “Jeraiah wishes we had another sister, and we’re only three. Don’t you, like, lose yourself or something?” Maybe he could peer into his beloved sister’s mind by asking Edith all these girl issues his sister’s been ranting over and over before he left.

He made a smile of success when Edith squeaked because of her poke. And while she tried to fight back, Jared made sure he was in control. And her fall from the arm to the ‘main body’ of the couch, combined with her curling up into a ball and surrendering, was a very explicit ‘win’ in his ears. “Oh yeah! I have conquered the mighty beast known as the Edith,” he said loudly, clasping his hands together and waving them side by side, as if he won a tournament or something. “Hey, I’m insulted. I’m not from the last century, I’m from the century to come. I’m a cyborg. Bleep bleep bloop bloop blup.” He even made antennae impersonation with his fingers and put it behind his head. “You really are smart Edith!” Nope, Jared would be caught dead reading in his free time. Too much work for him. “Books are like lullabies to me. I get so lost that I simply fall asleep on top of them. Lucky I don’t drool in my sleep.”

“It was cold. Definitely so cold.” Running around the school grounds soaked from head to toe in Vermont fall/winter is definitely one of the worse things he’s experienced. “I was lucky I lived in the dorms and can change easily. I had a classmate who lived in town and had no extra shirt or shorts in his lockers. Lucky him we’re the same size.” Though he must admit, Jeremy’s water summoning during that time was superb. “And yes, it was amazing,” he nodded in the end. “Jeremy was ok. He was teased for a while though. But it stopped now.” Except for the resident jerks who still pick on poor Jeremy every now and then. Fortunately Jeremy now knows how to block those thugs out.

Jared just stared with wide-eyed wonder as Edith recalled all their pet animals. He still wasn’t for living in a farm, but if it means working with so much animals, he thinks he could manage. Hopefully. “That is a lot,” he said, much like a kid enticed by the prospect of so much candy, “I so envy you. I’m going to call home now and tell my grandparents to buy a farm and we’ll live there.” A huge smile beamed in his face when Edith told him about the puppies. “You would? Really?” He leaned forward and gave Edith a tight hug. “Thank you Edith!” Yup, apparently all that’s needed to make Jared’s day is a cute little puppy wagging its tail when he comes home.

“Kocher? The Swiss Hammel?” Guess that’s the easiest explanation he could give. Despite not being meta, Jared has some knowledge about meta humans, the schools and such, mainly because his mom works for one of Hammel’s sister schools. “I think they’re in charge of European metas. Much like Eisai is for Asian metas,” he nodded. Yup, that’s Jared, meta-human geek, at your service. “My mom’s not meta though. I have no idea how she ended up with the school really. I know she told me before but I forgot.”

Edith’s late retaliation came as such a surprise to Jared (‘cause duh, it wouldn’t be called a sneak attack if he saw it coming) that he rolled from the couch to the floor, landing on his bum with a rather loud ‘thud’. And yet, despite it all, he’s still laughing like there’s no tomorrow. “Cheater!”

[Edith Love]

Edith could probably match Jared for loudness when it came to the horror movies, but she didn't cry during sob stories. Not ever. Not when you got made fun of if you did. Five brothers will do that to you. Edith shrugged at Jared's astonishment. "Eh. It doesn't seem that big to me, but then again, I am used to it. I mean, that was normal to me. But, I'm not the oldest. I'm second, my brother Joe just turned 17. So I don't really have to deal with the whole bein' the oldest thing, he does!" She smiled at Jared brightly. It's not really like she and Joe needed to take responsibility for their younger siblings, but they did anyway. It was what family did, as far as they were concerned. "But I did help take care of my younger siblings, especially when mom was pregnant. It was just hard for her when she couldn't bend over. It's not like it bothers me or anythin', I like bein' able to help out." Her expression turned wistful, remembering how cute her brothers were when they needed help with their cuts and scrapes. "I never really thought about 'losing myself'. I guess, that when you have that many people around you, it just becomes a part of who you are. Though, I have to say, the privacy here is nice."

When Edie had finally caught her breath from all the laughing, she managed to gasp out, "That's why I like reading when I'm going to sleep! Puts me out like a light. It's nice, like warm milk, only works even better." She straightened up and managed to sit properly on the couch, even though she was still giggling sporadically. Why did she have to be so gosh darned ticklish?

Edith couldn't help it, she laughed out loud at the idea of Jared on a farm, after what he'd just told her about himself. "Well, if it was just the two of us, I don't think we'd ever have time for school, or for sleep even. We'd have to get some more people in on it! But if we do, we should have more horses. They are so cool! Especially the pretty racing ones." Okay, so Edie was girly sometimes. She liked quarter horses. She also liked puppies! "Of course! Not sure what kind you'll end up with, depends on who the parents are, but puppies are cute no matter what!" She returned his hug enthusiastically, his excitement infectious.

Edith eyes widened with amazement as Jared explained what Kocher and Eisai were. "Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!" Edith muttered, awed. "I had no idea there were so many meta schools! I guess there's a lot more of us than I thought. A lot, lot more." Edie was totally amazed. That was just beyond cool! It made her feel less... alone, knowing there were so many others like her out there.

"No such thing!" Edith practically yelled, as she threw herself lengthwise on the couch and covered her stomach with a pillow that she was using as a tickle shield. She reached down onto the floor and continued her attack, not willing to stop until he gave in. She did her best impression of an evil laugh, which was pretty bad. "Bwa ha ha ha! I have you now, Secret Agent Jared! You will tell me all of your organization's secrets!" Yes, she was going back to the secret agent thing. She thought it was rather amusing!

[Jared Park]

Speaking of horror movies and chick flicks, Jared made a mental note to invite Edith later to the movie marathon he and Emma are planning to host. Or planned to have, since they’ve talked about it even before Halloween but had to be magically postponed the last minute due to requirements popping out of nowhere. Edith would’ve been invited anyway, since Jared’s planning to do it in their suite’s common area (it would be a bit rude to ignore her should she stumble upon them with chips and popcorn in hand), but he just thought it would be better to make the invite more ‘formal’.

Oh. Second oldest. Much like Jeraiah, only she had to take care of four extra brothers compared to one. Seems his older sister still got the upper hand here. She’s mighty lucky. “Heh. At least you’re a mighty fine older sibling. Should I become an older brother, I think I’d teach nothing but crap to my younger sibling,” he laughed, imagining him teaching all sorts of weirdness to his non-existent younger brother (he’d rather have another boy than a girl in the family) and Jasper suddenly entering the room and scolding him for telling their baby brother weird things and carrying him off. “Aww, that’s so sweet Edith. I never saw my mom pregnant so I never had memories like that.” In retrospect, he didn’t have much memories of his mom, or his dad, really. He was still a young kid when they left to work abroad, so his childhood memories of them were far and few. “At least you’re all together,” he mumbled, feeling a little sting of jealousy and sadness in his heart.

“I prefer warm milk over books any day,” he laughed, shifting slightly in his seat as Edith gasped for air. “I mean, at least when you drink milk, your mind doesn’t have to work much. I feel bad whenever I sleep while reading. I completely forget where I was in the story already.” Reading for sleep was definitely a smarty-pants task, and Jared doesn’t see himself fitting that category. Jasper and Edith maybe, but definitely not him. “And besides, I do have a habit of drooling when I sleep over a book. I don’t do it when I sleep on a pillow or other stuff, but for books and homework, I do. It’s nasty,” he chuckled, not really caring that he somehow insulted himself with such a comment. It’s all in good faith, and he doubts Edith’s the type to share his secret to the whole school anyway.

The idea of being stuck in a farm with Edith was fun at first, given that she knows what to do and she seems a whole lot of fun to be with. But then when she mentioned them doing chores. “Why do chores?” he asked playfully, “Do you really have to do a whole lot in a daily basis?” For a kid whose greatest chore in his childhood was to remember to load the laundry in the washing machine once a month (they rotate between siblings whose turn it is each week), the task sounds daunting. “I vote for a plethora of work animals!” Animals have always been a plus for the boy, and to him, having more work animals mean less work for him. If only he knew.

His laugh got even louder when he heard Edith’s expression. Boy that was something. He only thought those existed in the movies and TV, he didn’t know people do in fact say things like that in real life. “Butter my butt? Cute.” He nodded at the mention of more meta schools and the apparent proliferation of metahumans in general. “I think there’s one in China too, and in Russia, though they’re more military-esque than hippies,” he smiled, “And we are also as diverse as they can get. Just sucks that I get quite the downer when it comes to powers.”

He rolled on the floor just to try to get away from Edith’s tickle onslaught. She was good. So good that Jared had considered surrendering already. “No, you will not win evil Dr. Edith McEvil,” he said in an exaggerated hero-esque voice, “I will never surrender. Tickle gun go!” Hands clasped together and fingers crossed like a guy, he rolled forward and aimed for Edith’s side.

So much for acting like teenagers.


ooc:
Crappy post. Sorry Rosie. D;.
- Jam

[Edith Love]

Edith laughed at Jared's description of him as an older brother. "I've taught Roly and Stephen all kind of weird things! Like, I had Roly afraid to go into his closet for a week 'cause I told him the boogey man was in there. Felt kinda bad after, but it was funny. He always says that stuff is all make believe, and then gets scared anyway!" She had to admit it, it was funny. He'd freaked out so bad, after claiming he didn't believe in that kind of stuff! It took Edie a minute to figure out why he looked so sad, and then she realized it was probably because he was alone now, and he'd been here before her. She wondered where his family was. She put her hand on his arm in a way that way supposed to be sympathetic, who knows if it came across that way. "Yeah, it sucks being separated from them, huh? I miss everyone, but I write them all the time and call on weekends. My mom doesn't want me calling too much, 'cause if I do I won't make friends here. I guess she's right, but still, I miss them. Where is your family? Mine are all back in North Carolina." Her accent made it sound more like "Nauth" than "North".

"Meh, it could be worse than drooly paper. Have you ever had to clean baby spit out of a dog's tail? Now that is nasty!" She laughed, her family memories always brought her more joy than sadness, even if she did miss them. "I dunno, I like reading when I go to sleep because then I dream about the book and make up my own story, which is usually more interesting than the original anyway, mostly 'cause I'm in it." She giggled at her own joke. Who would ever think that he was more interesting than a character in a novel? She was pretty ordinary, as far as she could tell.

"Why do chores?" She repeated, sounding incredulous. "'Cause otherwise the animals will starve or get stinky! You gotta feed 'em, and clean their stalls, and wash the dogs for hours if they get hit by a skunk. That's the worse, it never comes out!" She wrinkled her nose in distaste. She'd had to do that twice, she really hoped she'd never have to do it again. Stinky! "Yeah, there is a lot of work to do. You've got to make sure the animals and crops are tended, the house is clean, there's food on the table, lots of stuff. It's definitely not as easy as they make it seem on TV." She shook her hand to emphasize her point. "That, and the animals they have are always really nice. To be honest, cows usually don't just let you milk them." She imitated milking a cow and then getting kicked by said cow. When something that big decides to get you, it hurts!

Edith blushed bright red at what she'd said. Had she really done that out loud? Well, she must have if Jared heard it, unless he was also telepathic. "Well, uh, yeah, it's, um, it's something my ma used to say." She smiled sheepishly. Really, 'butter my butt'? Of all the weird sayings she had to choose... She decided to focus instead on what he ways explaining. "Really, military? Like, they use us as soldiers or something? I don't think I'd much like going into the military." She mused for a second, and thought of all the war movies her brother's had made her watch. "Yup, definitely not a military gal." Edie laughed at Jared's disparaging comment, "What are you talkin' about? We already decided you were going to be a super-spy!"

Edith eeped as Jared got past her pillow defense system. She twitched and fell on the floor too, luckily she didn't let go of the pillow and didn't hurt Jared. He continued to tickle her as she rolled around on the floor next to him, but he'd left himself open! Ah ha! She reached out and got him right under the armpit, usually a very sensitive area. "You cannot defeat me, for I have magical tickle powers! Eep!" The last part was him getting another good one in. Well, they might be acting like five year olds, but at least they were enjoying themselves!

[Jared Park]

“You did what? That is so mean,” said Jared, consciously trying to maintain his serious face as he ‘scolded’ Edith. He knows what it feels like to be played with, but still, the image of a boy afraid to go close to his closet because of the Boogeyman is one hell of a laugh. When he felt his guise of sternness is slowly fading, he wagged a finger in front of Edith and gave her a look of mock disappointment, with smidges of chuckles all over. “And I thought you were the perfect sister Edith,” he teased, “I remember one time Jasper told me that hotdog skins were made from uncleaned pig intestines. I didn’t care at first until he told me that pig poo goes through the intestine. I didn’t eat hotdogs for years.” Boy did he pig out when Jeraiah finally told him the truth.

He almost jumped when Edith suddenly put her hand on his arm. It took a while for him to understand, and felt really touched for Edith to do that to him. He also felt embarrassed, thus blushing slightly, that he had let such a negative emotion show in front of her. “I know. Email’s the only thing we can do right now. Not when my power makes me invisible to cellphones too,” he shyly shook his head, turning to the side should teardrops suddenly appear, “What does she mean by that? Friends and calling?”

“My family? My siblings are with my grandparents in Vancouver, Canada. Mom’s in Kocher, somewhere in Switzerland. Dad’s an engineer somewhere in the Middle East. And here I am, in Vermont. Fun no?” he nodded slightly as he recalled how fragmented they are as a family, “We’ve been like this since I was 7. Except the part where I’m in Vermont of course.”

Edith just seems how to break Jared’s glum mood and turn it upside down. At the mention of baby spit and dog’s tail, a series of images flashed into Jared’s head, none of them pleasant enough to be mentioned out loud. “Something tells me I wouldn’t want to know how that ended up there,” he chuckled slightly, sniffing for a bit, “And of course they’re awesome. How can they not be when they have ‘Edith the Great’ in them?” He definitely knows how it feels like to dream about the story he just read. Done it a lot of times in terms of his superhero fascination. “I should be a dreamwalker then, so I can join your adventures. Or even a dream manipulator, so I can give you nightmares. Muwahahahaha!”

“Oh,” was all Jared could say when Edith rambled on about the importance of chores. Not that her rambling was bad, but it’s the first time (since they’ve talked and their conversation drifting to all such places) he’s ever seen her this serious. “I didn’t know animals need so much care, cleaning and maintenance.” Seems Jasper was right to disagree on the whole pet thing after all. He was about to tell Edith that he’s dropping the whole farm idea, but then she had to tell about the cow-milking. God knows how kids (and Jared) love that image. Nope, he was unfazed by the kicked-by-said-cow expression; he only saw the milking-the-good-cow demonstration. “You’ve milked cows before Edith? You really are all shades of awesome!”

He gave Edith a sheepish grin and lightly slapped her shoulder. “Don’t worry. It’s cute. Now butter my butt,” said Jared as he chuckled rather loudly. He made a mental note to use that expression whenever he’s with Edith, just to tease her. “That’s what Mom said. Thank goodness we’re within Hammel juris-jurid-jur-influence then.” Apparently some big words just can’t make it through Jared’s mouth. “Kocher’s basically like Hammel, she says, if not much more lenient. Eisai’s like Hammel, but they’ve got this weird focus on limits of powers and such, hence the knowledge that most metas who graduate from Eisai are much more powerful than their Hammel and Kocher counterparts.” He was about to end his dork-explosion monologue when he remembered something, laughing as he went, “And yes, I’d suck at military training. I need special spy training.”

“OhmaygashohmaygashOHMAYGASH!” shouted Jared as Edith found his magical tickle spot. Oh gosh was that nasty. He was wriggling and laughing, but somehow Edith’s hold was like solid cement – he couldn’t budge it one bit. “I s-surrender, I s-surrender!” he said in between breaths, laughing loudly as he continued to squirm beneath Edith.