A Perpetual Astonishment (AJ)

[Ginny Campbell]

If there was one gift Ginny was eternally grateful for, it was her car. It wasn't expensive or pretty or particularly worth showing off, but it was still a car, one she didn't have to pay for but was allowed to drive to and from college. It meant she could visit her father on weekends and furthermore it meant those visits weren't confined to the school or his house or wherever he chose to take her.

To make matters even better, Hammel was full of students willing to play with her. She wasn't sure if meta humans in particular were more inclined to play than baseline, or it was something to do with boarding school students being desperate for something to do that wasn't involved with school. Either way, she'd made many friends at her father's alma mater.

Of course, it was perhaps a bit early to be labeling AJ a friend, particularly as he seemed to not quite understand a good deal of her babbling. She spoke fluent sarcasm, slipping into it without ever realizing, while he didn't even recognize that sarcasm was being used at all. Still, he was willing to play and he was kind of cute in the same way that Jean was; she would never turn down the opportunity to collect adorable little minions.

She parked her car in the gravel lot beside the lake, turning the key to shut engine and radio abruptly off. The song playing was cut off mid-word, but Ginny continued to sing anyway.

"I guess I didn't taste good anyway, cause when she kissed me she flew awaaaay." She finished, turning to AJ with a grin and spreading her arms wide. "So we got the whole place to ourselves." She announced.

This was blatantly untrue; there were several joggers, a woman walking her dog, and an elderly couple (they were, like, maybe Dr. Neville's age. That was practically ancient) feeding the feathered vermin known as geese. But there were no people their age, and that was what was important.

"So we can go play anywhere." Except in the lake; she'd seen some people fishing in it before and had no desire to get impaled in the foot with a hook. "Or just toss the ball in the air and we'll go wherever it leads us."

[Aaron Walker]

AJ would probably consider Ginny a friend. Even though he hadn't spent more than a half hour with her so far. Even though he hadn’t even learned her name yet. Or really anything about her other than she was the daughter of a Hammel official and that she wasn’t a meta. But AJ’s definition of friend wasn’t anything more than a person who was willing to spend any amount of time with him. And so far he was enjoying himself.

During the car ride, he hung his arm out the window playing with the wind and enjoying the sunshine. He was glad he’d found his soccer ball up in his room so that he wouldn’t waste time looking for something in the gym.

“Well,” AJ said, once again misunderstanding the girl’s sarcasm. “Except for those other people. But the clearing up by the trees is empty. As long as we don’t kick those joggers in the back of the head with the ball.”

AJ punted the baltowardd the clearing. Or at least attempted to. It went mostly sideways toward the lake itself, but he managed to stop it before it went in. His shoes were now covered in mud, but he didn’t mind at all. He turned to grin at the girl before running towards the clearing.

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny's gaze cut to the joggers, oblivious to the fact that two teens were discussing the possibility of attacking them with a soccer ball. "Awww, but what if they really deserve it?" She asked seriously. "What if they encourage the flocks of geese by feeding them?"

There was a wooden sign that asked very clearly for people to refrain from feeding the geese, but she was pretty sure that few people bothered to read it as she'd witnessed geese feeding before. This wasn't a surprisle; people never obeyed signs. She certainly didn't when she thought she could get away with it.

She took off toward the lake after AJ and his ball, but before she reached either of them he had redirected toward the clearing, and so she skidded to a halt at the muddy banks, startling several of the geese, who hissed at her in warning. She hissed back before turning on her heel and racing toward AJ, determined to catch up with him.

"Ten points if you can hit a goose." She panted from behind him, half in jest; she had dreams about punting a goose, but probably that would result in being either attacked or given a stern talking to by a park ranger, neither of which was an appealing option.

[Aaron Walker]

AJ was a little perplexed. “Encourage the geese?” Too what? Attack people? Poop on their cars? AJ dismissed the girl's comment for the moment, figuring she was making some sort of joke. He laughed a little. But even to him, it sounded forced and fake.

AJ stopped in the middle of the clearing, giving the girl time to catch up. Once she did, he passed the ball toward her. “You know how to juggle?” he asked. “Soccer juggling. Not circus juggling.”

“Um…” AJ said after her ten-point comment. There was no way he’s hurt a goose on purpose. Even if he actually possessed the skill to aim at a potentially flying target. “I’m not sure…I kinda like geese…” AJ was starting to wonder if hanging out with this girl was such a great idea. She seemed fun at first, even with the ghostly voice, but animal cruelty was a little over the top.

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny got the feeling that AJ wasn't following her at all. Maybe she should clarify? Naaaaaw. He'd catch on eventually.

"Soccer juggling?" She repeated, kicking the ball back toward him with the edge of one foot. She wasn't familiar with that term. "Sorry, I did track and field, not soccer. I can totally learn, though, if you show?"

She slowed to a halt at his reluctance to hit the geese. Wow, he really didn't catch on to jokes, did he. "Ummm." She placed her hands on her hips, eying him with a mixture of pity and disbelief. "Haven't you ever heard the points game before? You know, ten points to hit the pedestrian, fifteen points to hit the bicyclist. Nobody expects you to actually do it."

She shook her head. She couldn't believe he'd never heard that before. "Never mind, forget about the geese, show me how this juggling thing works."

[Aaron Walker]

“The points game?” AJ asked. “Oh I get it. It’s a joke.” He smiled and forced a laugh, but was wondering to himself how you would keep score if no one actually hit anything. “I’m not very good a jokes. But people still laugh around me sometimes, so I must be kinda okay with them.”

Maybe this girl wasn’t so bad after all. She was older than him, so maybe she just knew a lot more. At least she was nice enough to explain herself. He was very glad she didn’t actually want him to hit a goose

“Well, I’m not to great at it either.” AJ admitted. “You kinda juggle with your feet and stuff…no hands. Like this.” He threw the ball up in the air and bounced it off his knees a few times before catching it again. “See? Then you try to pass it back and forth without letting it hit the ground.” He threw the ball up again, bounced it off his head then knee and attempted to pass it to the girl.

[Ginny Campbell]

"Naw, it's cool." Ginny waved one hand dismissively, absolving him of missing the joke. Truthfully playing with someone who didn't get her jokes was a tad bit frustrating, but she would rather have a companion than fly solo, so she'd put up with it. At least he was willing to come out and play rather than being a total stick in the mud.

Maybe he'd catch on to her jokes.

Eventually.

She furrowed her brow, watching him bounce the ball from knee to knee. "Oh, yeah, I've seen people do that." She acknowledged, attempting to catch the ball with the side of her leg as he passed it her way.

And failing miserably.

She ran after it, laughing, "Okay, I guess I need a looooot more practice to not suck."

She tossed the ball into the air, this time successfully smacking it with one foot in what was almost even the right direction.

[Aaron Walker]

AJ laughed when the girl failed at juggling the ball. He didn’t mean it to be so loud. But it came out as an explosion. He covered his mouth with both hands. “Sorry,” he said to the girl between his fingers. He hoped the girl wouldn’t yell at him. Suddenly, he realized he didn’t know her name yet. “You got a name?” he asked. “I mean, of course you have one, but can you tell me what it is?” he grinned a little, hoping he wasn’t making a complete idiot about himself.

He caught the ball when she passed it toward him again. “Maybe we should try something else.” He asked, staring at the ball in his hands. “No offense.”

[Ginny Campbell]

"Now that is just rude, assuming I have a name." Ginny gave AJ a mock scowl at his supposed audacity. "I mean, really, what if I didn't? That might hurt my sensitive feeeeeelings." She swooned, then gave him a grin to show she was teasing. She probably should have learned by now that he wasn't going to get it, but facetiousness was her natural mode of discourse.

"Name's Ginny. Ginny Campbell." She offered. "Just Ginny, it's not short for Jennifer or Virginia or anything like that."

Her frown at the suggestion they do something else, however, was quite real. "You sure? If we practice some more I'll prolly get it..." She trailed off, then shrugged, "but if you really don't wanna, that's fiiine." She would just practice at home until she got it down.

[Aaron Walker]

Now I’ve gone and done it, AJ thought to himself, thinking he had hurt the girl’s feelings. Or at least broken some general code of ethics. “I’m s-“ he started to say, but then the girl flashed him a grin. “Hey, wait. You’re just kidding, right?” he asked, hoping that she was. He had a habit of offending people on a regular basis because of his lack of social skills.

“My name is AJ. Well, AJ is short for Aaron James. So I guess that’s really my name. But AJ just seems easier,” he said. I hope she doesn’t get offended that my name is short for something, he thought to himself.

“No,” he said quickly, almost shouting the word. He grinned a little. “I mean, I didn’t wanna annoy you if you didn’t wanna play anymore. I’m no star athlete either. Here try again,” he kicked the ball towards her again. “Try to kick more up than out. That seems to help me.”

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny giggled a bit at his question. He was so sincere about it; it was a little endearing. "Yeah, I was just teasing. I'm not offended, of course I have a name."

Unlike her, his name was a nickname. That wasn't surprising; she couldn't imagine a parent naming their child AJ. Then again, most parents wouldn't name their child Ginny either. At least not most parents in her parent's generation; maybe some of the people her age would, because of Ginny from Harry Potter, but even in that case her name had been short for Ginevra.

"AJ, huh. Nice to meet ya." She listened carefully as he explained how to better perform the trick they were attempting, nodding to show she was paying attention, "Up instead of out." She repeated, trying to replicate his advice and succeeding in tossing the ball into the air -- though not very high.

"Score!" She cheered. pumping one fist into the air in celebration. "Awesome, glad you know what you're doing."

She grinned again, passing the ball back toward him, again succeeding in not aiming it toward his face. She counted that as a victory. "So where'd you learn that little trick?"

[Aaron Walker]

AJ smiled when Ginny admitted that she was only joking around. “Yeah I guess everyone kinda has to have a name. Sorry, sometimes I get a little…confused,” he admitted. Although he wasn’t sure if ‘confused’ was the right word. It took him a while to catch onto when people were kidding. So usually he played it safe and assumed they were serious.

“See!” AJ yelled, excitedly. “You can do it! Next thing you know, they’ll be asking you to join the Major Leagues,” he was pretty sure they called it something else in soccer, but he hoped Ginny would still understand. She seemed like a smart girl.

“I dunno,” he said as he bounced the ball off his head back to Ginny. “My uncle helped me figure it out, I guess. We used to spend most of the summer together. He’s got this awesome summer camp. You should see the waterfall there. It was like this tall,” he held up his hand to show, but then remembered how short he was. “Well, actually it was a lot taller. More like that tree over there,” he pointed to a maple tree near the lake, about fifty feet tall.

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny wasn't surprised by AJ's admission that he didn't always understand jokes; even in the brief amount of time they'd interacted it had become apparent to her that this was so.

"Don't worry about it," She shrugged his apology of dismissively, "I'm almost never serious." Unless her family were being threatened. or she thought they were.

Her grin widened at his encouragement. "Ooooh. I've always wanted to play in the soccer big leagues. What is it they're called again? I guess the FIFA world cup isn't exactly what I'm looking for..." Hmm. Now she was curious. She would have to look it up when she got home. "I was on the track team, so I can be pretty fast." That was a useful skill in soccer, right?

"Wow, that sounds really cool!" She envisioned the waterfall and the summer camp. "Where does your uncle live?" She asked, trying to emulate his head butt of the ball, but instead it smacked her in the face. "OW!" She yelped, allowing it to drop. "Damn, that hurts."

She pressed one hand to her face, gingerly testing to make certain nothing was broken. Sticky warmth told her that it was bloody, at least, and she sighed morosely. Stupid ball, interrupting her fun with AJ. "Damndamndamn."

[Aaron Walker]

“So,” AJ asked. “If I just assume you’re always kidding then I’ll have a better chance of understanding, right?” He tried not to think what would happen if Ginny wasn’t kidding.

AJ smiled, glad that he was helping the girl to develop her love of soccer. He was actually feeling pretty proud of himself…until the ball smashed into her face. “Oh man,” AJ yelled when he saw that Ginny’s nose was bleeding. Her dad’s gonna kill me. AJ thought to himself. I’ll bet he’s real protective of his little girl and all. He’ll probably give me detention. Or expel me. Oh man, I’m totally screwed.

He reached into his pocket and felt around, looking for anything that he could offer the girl. “I’m sorry,” he said, handing her a fairly clean handkerchief. “Please don’t let your dad expel me.”

[Ginny Campbell]

Ginny nodded agreeably when AJ asked if he ought to assume she was always kidding. "It's a safe assumption to make." She admitted, though if he was going to assume this then perhaps she ought to make a mental note to state outright when she was being serious.

It was so rough dealing with people who didn't pick up on subtle shifts in tone and body language.

If her nose hadn't hurt so much she might have laughed at how freaked out poor AJ was about the ball smacking her in the face. "He won't expel you." She promised, her words slightly muffled. "You can't get expelled from Hammel anyway, even if you tried."

She had heard the stories, and she knew that people had tried. Hard. But no student could leave until they had what Hammel considered an appropriate handle on their power.

"Don't worry about." But she did accept the handkerchief, applying it gingerly to her nose. "I don't think it's broken." She said that more to reassure AJ than herself; she was pretty sure it wasn't broken, but it hurt like the dickens. "Should probably head back, though, make Dr. Marst check it out for me."

She glanced despondently at the ball, disappointed to have her playtime cut short. "Sorry."