Juggling Madness

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The Emory boys were in the student lounge, a place where the other students and the like hung out. It was a good place for them to start getting used to being around people around their age for not just purposes of entertaining them. They boys had started going to class, but still felt some anxiety about it, trying to be high school students, when pretty much all their lives they had done home schooling. They had not actually gone up to talk to anyone and instead felt the need to practice their juggling. They may have not been living at the circus or putting on shows with their circus family, but their minds were still in the mindset of training and making sure that they would be ready for the next show. Each having four plastic balls in their hands that they were juggling; but the palls were not like ball pit plastic balls, but were filled with sand to give them a bit of weight so the boys would be working out their arms as well as their juggling skills.

"Ready?" Casper asked, to which his brother gave a nod as the two started to pass one another a ball every so often until they were both juggling together. It was easy to juggle by yourself, but to juggle with someone else you had to be in sync, tossing a ball at them at the right time, catching it, and keeping all the other ones up in the air. Your hands had to keep moving and your focus had to be on both the balls and your partner. Easy enough for the brothers since they had been doing it for a while, but even they made mistakes every now again. Even more so when they would juggle more balls or go faster. Today was one of those days when they would go faster. "Alright, speeding up." Jasper said as he started to juggle faster and of course Casper having to do the same in order to keep up. Yet his brother seemed to be really into it and was going a lot faster than they normally would. They were supposed to build right into, but Jasper was going full speed ahead.

Full speed ahead; that resulted in Casper missing one of the balls and ended up breaking the whole juggling chain. Balls dropping to the floor and the ones that were being currently thrown by Jasper, ending up either hitting his brother or flying past him. One such ball flying past Casper and hitting a nearby girl.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky had originally come in here to read her book but she was quickly realizing that maybe that wasn’t the best idea. She might have had better luck trying to read outside somewhere or maybe in her own dorm. She liked a little bit of background noise while she read, but this seemed to be more of a place to socialize than a place for quiet contemplation. Still, Becky gave it her best shot. She curled up in a chair, knees to her chest, and balanced her paperback on her knees. She was currently reading Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was a thin enough book for her to get through in one or two sittings, if she wasn’t being distracted every few minutes by something going on in the lounge.

Even before the wayward ball flew toward her, she’d noticed the two boys juggling a little bit aways from her. It was kind of hard to miss. After some awkward not-staring, she was pretty sure that they were twins and that they were probably the best jugglers that she’d ever seen. Not that she’d seen many jugglers, but you know. They had an aura of professionalism and confidence about them. She couldn’t help but watch the show a little bit, in between reading snippets about Janie’s exciting life. The kids just kept on going faster. She could barely see the balls anymore. It was like watching an almost train wreck.

Becky had just glanced down to check in on Janie when the juggling went awry and suddenly something ponged her in the forehead, followed by loud crashing noises. She yelped, startled, and lifted her head out of the book to find out who was suddenly chucking missiles at her. She set the book aside and laid eyes on the brightly colored ball that had landed a few feet away from her after assailing her head. Oh. So the almost train wreck had turned into an actual train wreck while she’d been distracted. She was kind of sorry that she’d missed it. She grabbed the ball, which was a lot heavier than she expected, and looked over at the two clowns — ha, get it, because they juggled — who were now surrounded by multi-colored balls. Rubbing her head with her free hand, she stood up, wobbled a little bit as her head complained about the change in altitude, and headed over to give them back their ball. She didn’t trust herself to throw it. Her aim wasn’t the best. “Alright?” she asked politely, like she wasn’t the one who had just gotten pegged.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The Ghost Boys; their performing name, had not noticed that they were being watched by anyone. Yes they assumed that anyone in the area would be watching them; because how often did you get to see two people juggling with such skill in your everyday life, but they had not actually looked around to see who might have been watching. No, they were focused on the juggling at the moment, each other and nothing else. They were not currently giving anyone a show, they were practicing and just felt like practicing in a location were others would be in. Sort of attention seeking, but not really since they were there to get themselves used to being around a lot of people their age that were fellow students. Getting used to it by hanging out in the student lounge and doing something that they were used to and made them feel comfortable and at ease. Still even with their focus, things more or less went wrong.

Not wrong in a major way since nothing ended up broken, but a ball or two for sure hit someone, while another would roll under something or end up on the pool table. In general, colorful balls were around the student lounge and the brother were still for a moment. Casper giving his brother a look and Jasper just giving his brother a small chuckle in return. Then both brothers bending over and starting to pick up the fallen balls. It was no fun being 6'1" and having to bend all the way down to the ground to pick the balls up, but they were just feeling a bit stiff and probably needed to take a moment to give one another a massage. The voice had stopped them from their ball collection and it clicked right away that she must of have been the one to have been hit with one of the balls. "Oh we are fine. Are you alright? The ball didn't hit you to hard, did it?" Casper asked, being friendly because well on of their balls did hit the girl and while they didn't want to get in trouble, they did want to make sure she was okay...for the most part.

Jasper moved to get the ball from Steinbeck and also reached out to feel/rub at her head to see if he found any bumps. Being gentle for the most part, but her hair was more or less being ruffled so he could feel at her scalp. Of course she could easily move away and he would not be able to check himself to make sure that whatever she said was not some kind of lie or something. "We are Jasper and Casper by the way. You are?" Jasper asked as he already started to look the girl over, reading and trying to figure out what kind of 'toy' she was.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Now that she'd gotten up and given the two brothers her full attention, she realized how tall they were. It looked almost painful to have to bend so low to retrieve the balls. She thought about helping to pick up the balls, but bending down would probably make her dizzy from the bump on her head. If only Becky was able to make the balls lose their gravity. Then they'd just float up into the air for them to catch. But she had to concentrate extremely hard just to make a pencil float a few inches above a desk. There was no way she'd be able to lift up a bunch of weighted juggling balls. But it was the thought that counted, right?

Becky shrugged her shoulders and shifted the ball to her other hand. "I'm okay," she assured them. "Just a little bump on the head. Not the end of the world." And it really wasn't. She'd had a concussion before (a long story involving a too-curious little Becky and a large stack of philosophy texts) and this definitely wasn't one. Just an annoyance that would keep her rubbing her forehead for the rest of the day. Even with her reassurances, though, apparently one of the twins wanted to make sure she was okay for himself. She flinched back a little bit, startled by the sudden touch, but she stood still for a while as he felt around for the bump on her head. She knew that her hair would look a wreck afterward, but she was a bit too shy to ask him to stop and risk offending them. After a few moments, however, she stepped back and rubbed at the sore are herself. "It'th fine. Really."

Casper and Jasper. That was pretty funny, considering that they were twins. She'd always thought that it was a bit mean to give kids themed names like that, depriving them of their individual identity, but the two boys really did seem to make a unit. She'd never had any siblings herself, let alone a twin, so she doubted she could really judge the sort of bond between close siblings. She didn't really like the way either Jasper or Casper was looking her over, though. It felt like she was being studied, like some sort of experiment. But she answered anyway, extending the ball out for him to take back. "Becky," she said, wanting to avoid saying her first name just yet. She had a feeling that maybe revealing her lisp so starkly would be a bad idea with these two. But maybe she was being touchy. "You're really good at juggling. It was fun to watch."

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

"Well alright. It would be bad if we gave you a head injury without even knowing about you." Casper said which was the honest truth, because at least if you were going to hurt someone; even by accident, you should have known them in some way so that you would feel some kind of guilt. Maybe if everyone just automatically knew about a person when they ran into them, there would be less crime. Probably not, since the boys still would do 'bad' things to those who they knew. People were their toys after all and this girl that had come over to them was now likely to end up in their books as yet another toy. Jasper still moved his hand through her hair until he felt the little bump and gave his brother a small nod. Basically saying like 'hey, she really did get hit, we have to make it up to her or something' and that was what the plan was. How to make it up to her? Magic of course.

"Oh, messed up your hair a bit." Jasper said when Becky stepped back and rubbed at the sore spot. Jasper moving back towards her and once more going to put his hands in her hair to at least try and fix it in some way. Hands on was the way to go after all and she didn't flip out on him about it so he figured it was okay. Even if he could tell that it he had startled her by the first touch. They were looking over her either way and to them it was more or getting to know her better. Figuring out her height, measurement, and details about her that they could pick out. When you wanted to pull a trick on someone it was important to get a good look at them, figure them out. Plus being hands on allowed them to more or less put some of their tricks on her without her even realizing it. Jasper took the ball from Becky and waved his hand around it for a moment before going to clap his hands and the ball more or less disappearing and allowing him to clap his hands without the ball being in the way. A sleight of hand trick.

"Nice to meet you Becky." The brothers said together and then were both smiling as she complimented their juggling skills. They did love to entertain after all and if she had been pleased then they were happy. "Do you like juggling, magic, and the like?" Casper asked as he moved his hand near her ear and 'pulled' a coin out of her ear and showed it to her. Nodding at it so she would feel free to take it so she could look over it herself and see that it was a real coin.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky gave Casper a smile. That was sort of a nice sentiment. She honestly wasn't that injured, though. A little bump that would heal in no time. Even so, it was apparent that the twins weren't going to let it go that easily. "That'th really okay," she promised, but they were obviously set on fiddling about with her head. She considered backing away some more, but Jasper was careful enough not to aggravate the head injury so she decided it would be simpler just to let him have his way for a bit and get her hair fixed. He didn't do a great job, but it wasn't all his fault. Her hair was a wreck, there was really nothing for it. She could still feel both of their eyes on her though, and it was very disconcerting to be watched so intently. She wasn't that interesting, really. Not to deserve that kind of staring.

Even knowing that they had all that time to look her over and figure her out, she was still surprised when Jasper took the ball and somehow made it vanish. She'd never really understood how magic tricks worked. She'd had the opportunity to read a few books on the subject (of course), but she'd always passed them by for other things. There was something about magic shows that she wanted to remain a mystery. She kind of liked being mystified. She wasn't dumb enough to believe that it was actually magic, but come on. Everyone still kind of wanted to believe, right?

The synchronized speech thing kind of weirded her out, but then she supposed it was probably just a natural thing. After all, she could recall saying something at the same time as one of her moms or one of her friends. It just came from familiarity, right? That was all it was. It was kind of cute that they knew each other so well.

When Casper reached toward her again, she was worried that maybe this would start another round of hair ruffling. She was delighted when he pulled a coin from behind her ear instead. Her grandfather had done that to her before too. It was one of the basic magic tricks that always left her delighted. Made her feel like a little kid again. She laughed quietly and took the coin, flipping it over in her hand. It was just a normal coin. "I do," she replied softly. "Can't say that I know much about it, though. My grandpa used to mess around with some of the easier tricks when I was little. But I don't think I've seen anyone juggle like you two. Except for the hitting-me-in-the-head part," she lisped, then wondered if that would be taken as lightheartedly as she intended. "I'm not mad or anything! It was really fun to watch."

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

It was a very smart move for Becky to just sort of give into what the boys were doing to her, because if they wanted to do something they were going to do it. Putting up a fight with it was just going to make it hard on herself and end up possibly messing up her hair a little more. Jasper had tried, but her hair was being difficult so after a little bit of effort he had given up on it and went about 'checking her out' with his brother. She was at least 5'5" or 5'6". She had read hair, tons of freckles, and had dark brown eyes. She was a very pretty girl and the boys were pretty sure she might have been the same age as them. This was perfect and meant they could flirt with her and that there was a possibility for some real fun with her. If they had to guess, they figured she was a virgin too, and probably one of those really smart girls. All of this information was going to pay off for how they would deal with this soon to be new toy of theirs.

Magic was not real, the boys knew that, but; magic’ was still fun to do and it had always and forever would captivate people’s minds. The mystery of wondering how something was done would be the key to it all. Becky clearly understood that and had shown interest in what the boys were doing. Nothing pleased them more then when someone liked what they could do. Well having a good pet that did as they desired it to was pretty high up on the scale of things that made them happy, but magic was by far the highest up there. The two of them speaking together was never really something that they actually planned but just happened a lot. They had been together all sixteen years of their life, and by together that meant like super close, knew all of each other secrets and swapped who was who from time to time. Plus their power did cause some mind melding from time to time so it was only natural and practically normal that they would end up saying words at the same time. Their voices sounded the same too, so really it could have sounded like they were one person.

The laughing was cute and both the brother were smiling that Becky was having fun with the little show they were putting on just for her. "Well it’s good that you don't know too much about it. If you did we would not be able to amaze you as well." Jasper pointed out as he started to juggle the few balls he had picked up now. Juggling was always fun, even more so when you started to be able to juggle five or six and sometimes a lot more than that. "Did he teach you any tricks or just showed you them?" Casper asked, curious because they did love magic and if Becky knew any of it they wanted to know and see what she could do. If not that was fine too because she had already caught their attention and pretty much sealed her fate as one of their toys. Both brothers chuckling as Becky was trying to be quick and assure them that the whole being hit in the head with a ball was fine.

"Let us give you a personal show." Jasper offered as he kept juggling, he was only doing four so was able to look right at Becky and talk to her without missing a ball and kept juggling. "Our way of saying sorry. Could get an ice cold drink to put on your head and drink afterwards too." Casper added after his brother as he went back to actually picking up the balls they had dropped since they at least needed to be all gathered up.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky was glad that they weren't going to poke fun at her for being ignorant about their little tricks. She knew sort of how it was done -- slight of hand, it's all about distraction, that sort of thing -- but she didn't know specifics. And she certainly couldn't do it herself. Becky was always impressed by people who had skills that she didn't have herself. Which was basically almost every skill out there, except the ability to read. But magic shows really were something else. It took a lot of practice and confidence to fool people like that. And it took a lot of coordination to juggle balls. Becky couldn't even throw a ball properly. Needless to say, she was pretty impressed by the twins.

She watched with a small, nervous smile on her face as Jasper began to juggle the balls again. She couldn't deny that it made her a little anxious to be standing so close, considering what had happened last time he had tried to juggle. But it would be pretty rude to just step into the corner of the room until the juggling part was over. Besides, they really did seem like they knew what they were doing. The mess up and subsequent rainstorm of juggling balls was probably just a one-in-a-million fluke. At least, that was what she decided to tell herself as she stood just a few feet away from the flying balls.

"He tried," she said honestly, blushing a little bit. It was kind of embarrassing, especially after watching these two manage all of these tricks, to admit that she couldn't pick up even the most basic ones. "He wasn't a professional magician or anything, but he could fool little kids. He tried teaching me the coin-behind-the-ear bit. I was either just really young or really incompetent, and couldn't manage to get it without everyone seeing exactly what I was doing," she lisped. She'd also tried it again when she was a little bit older and failed just as miserably. But omitting part of the story wasn't exactly lying, and she kind of wanted to save some dignity.

Becky shook her head, not because she didn't want to see some more tricks, but because she didn't want to put them out. They didn't owe her anything, after all. It was just a silly mistake that one of their balls had ended up bonking her in the head. She didn't want them feeling guilty, like they had to do something to make it up to her. She rubbed the bump again at the mention of her injury. She couldn't tell if it was swelling or not, but either way, ice would probably do it some good.

Noticing that Casper was now the only one collecting the wayward balls, she decided to ignore her dizzy head and help him. "You really don't have to," she assured them as she gathered a few up. She didn't know exactly where to put them once she had them, but at least the tall twins didn't have to bend down and grab them anymore. "It was an honest mistake. I don't want to interrupt your practicing or anything."

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

There was no need to make fun of someone for their lack of skills in the magic area that would have just been stupid. If everyone knew how to do it and could do it, then it would not be special or cool. They brothers understood very well that not everyone had the same talents and that was why they liked to have a wide verity of toys for them to involve themselves with. Having peoples in your circle that could do a verity things allowed you to tap into well different things. They could already easily see using her to help with their school work since they had about average intelligence and were possibly a little bit behind for sixteen year olds since they had been home schooled most of their life. Home schooled in a circus, so yes they were probably missing a few academic requirements necessary for them. So yes, Becky had caught their eyes now for sure.

Jasper was a lot more careful now that it was just him juggling and he was not worried about losing control over them. He was not going as fast as he was with his brother and he only had to be aware of himself and when he was ready to toss and receive. It was pretty much second nature for him and again he was looking around and making conversation like juggling was not big deal. Both the brothers still actually listening as she spoke of how her grandfather tried to teach her and normally was able to trick the little ones. As would be expected of course. "Sounds like a pretty cool grandfather. Is he still alive?" Jasper went ahead and asked, knowing that it could end up being a touchy subject for Becky and that was part of the reason he asked it. You had to know the ins and outs of people if you wanted to be able to 'manipulate' them and for them to realize that in the end you were the one in control and pulling the strings even if they thought it was all by their choice.

"Probably that you were young. You seem like you a very smart girl. We could easily teach you how to do the coin trick if you really want to know." Casper offered since it was one of those tricks that were not a big deal to show someone how it was done. Plus then in a way she would have been able to learn what her grandfather was trying to teach her and by them being the ones that helped her achieve that, it would allow them to get closer to her. Still their words at the moment were not all just for show and to worm their ways into her heart that actually did mean it. She did come off as a smart girl and while they both did pick up on the lisps, a lisp did not reflect someone’s intelligence level. Heck the brothers knew someone who could hardly speak because they had no teeth back at the circus. She was denying them of giving her a show. Jasper didn't like that, but a look from his brother and he didn't say anything and kept to his juggling for a moment. Casper picking up the bag they had brought for the balls and started to toss them into it.

"If you really don't want a show then that is fine. At least let us get you something cold to drink." Jasper said as he started to toss the balls into the bag when his brother held it open. Both brothers being careful to not end up hitting Becky this time around for sure. No need to give her some more little bumps on her head. "No worries Becky. We told ourselves to practice here so we could possibly meet someone. We met you; know will you please join us for a cold drink?" Jasper asked as he pulled out a red cloth and laid it over his closed fist. Then quickly pulled it away to reveal a small flower. It was a real one, a simple little white flower that he had actually picked up from outside not too long ago, but of course he was not going to tell her that little detail. "It will be fun." The brother said together with friendly smiled as they gathered and put the last of the balls away with her help.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky was surprised at how blunt Jasper could be. Honestly, asking if someone's grandfather was dead? A little bit insensitive. Luckily, her grandfather was alive and well. She didn't get to see him much since he lived a bit of a drive away, but he was still kicking around. And would be for a while yet, she hoped. Giving them a little bit of a strange look, she answered honestly. "Yeah, he's fine. Going a bit crazy in his old age, but I think everyone does once you get past seventy." He could still do the slight of hand tricks, though, and she had fun during family get-togethers when she could watch him trick the younger kids. It was a strange kind of nostalgia for someone who wasn't yet an adult.

The compliment surprised her just as much, but given the bluntness of their previous statement, she had to assume that they weren't lying. They didn't seem like the type to lie. But they were kind of hard to get at. Maybe because there was two of them instead of one and she already knew that they could do a lot of things without her noticing. She wondered if she should take them up on the offer. It could be fun. And if she could manage the trick now, it would be pretty cool to pull on people. She had a few friends who might find it funny. And her moms would, when she got back home, because it would remind them of her grandfather. "Really? That'd be pretty cool. I can't promise that I'll pick up on it very quickly, but it'd be fun to try," she replied.

She narrowly skirted around the juggling brother to get to the bag where she could dump some of the balls she'd collected. She wouldn't mind a show, but the juggling still made her a bit nervous, and she was sure that their arms had to be tired from juggling all of that for so long. The balls weren't light like she'd thought they would be, after all. And they packed quite a punch. "Maybe another time," she suggested hopefully. She was sure they'd end up pulling a crowd around them at some point, just by practicing in random areas around the school. Maybe she'd catch them at it again.

The cold drink she could take them up on, though. She was kind of thirsty, but mostly she just wanted to press it against the bump on her head. It was starting to swell the tiniest bit and she knew it would hurt worse in a few hours if she didn't ice it now. It was a strange kind of way to meet friends, but she really couldn't judge. After all, she read in public spaces sometimes, almost hoping that someone might ask about the title of the novel. She supposed it was the same thing. They just had a different hobby.

The little flower that appeared in Jasper's palm got her to smile a little bit. That was pretty impressive too. The flower didn't even seem like it was crushed or anything. Even though she knew it was slight of hand, she wondered where he was hiding it so that it didn't get bent out of shape. That was the real mystery. She dropped one of the last balls into the bag and decided that it couldn't hurt. "Alright. If you're sure," she said, wanting to be absolutely positive that she wasn't causing them to go out of their way. Well, she knew she was, but she didn't want to be a pain anyway. "Let's get some drinks."

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Jasper was very blunt, Casper was thinking the same question it was just the fact that he had a better filter on then his brother did. Casper would think things through where Jasper relied on his emotions and his brother for things. So if Jasper felt the desire to ask a question and really wanted to know the answer then he was going to ask. It would dawn on him later that it might not have been such a tasteful way to do thing, but he didn’t really care that much. All that matter to him in all honestly was his brothers opinion of him and since he was pretty sure Casper was going to love him no matter what he was not really worried about being on his ‘best behavior’ unless he got a look from his brother. Thankfully Becky’s grandfather was alive, still pulling of tricks, and sounded like he was in good health; Jasper nodding at hearing such good new. “That is very good for you. You will be able to show him the trick yourself then.” Jasper said and that had actually been his point of asking the whole ‘is your gramps dead’ question in the first place.

“Cool and its okay if you don’t get it right away. It took Jasper a while to get a couple of the sleight of hand rights down.” Casper pointed out which had his brother giving a very large eye roll so his brother would clearly see it. Casper did see it but just smiled at his brother and with Becky being more or less okay with learning how to do the trick, and then they were going to show her. For now they wanted to focus on getting some drinks and putting something cold on her head. They knew very well just how dangerous a head injury could be if left untreated. Plus it had to be annoying to have a bump on your head that would feel sore and possibly start to give you a headache. She did turn down the whole being giving a show, saying another time. They were not necessarily going to give her a juggling show, but she had turned it down either way so oh well. Another time they would give her a show and she would get to see what she had missed out on.

With that out of the way and the last of the balls gathered up and in the bag, Casper tied up the bag and handed it to his brother to hold. Jasper then slinging said bag over his back and carrying it without any problem, even if the bag was a little heavy. He was using a bit of his power to help him out so it was not a big deal at all so long as he stayed in range of his brother. Casper was pleased as she seemed to have liked his little trick with the flower. Casper was the best at the sleight of hand tricks and making sure that if he was using something real to make sure it didn’t get damaged. “We are sure, and it’s our treat.” Jasper said as he started to lead the way to a nearby vending machine which would have been the closest thing to go for and while the cafeteria had things that were there for them for free, it was not around a meal time so they would not be able to get anything. So a vending machine was the best plan of action at the moment and maybe Jasper could show Becky another trick, one that Casper probably would not let him do since they were supposed to be being good.

“Have anything in mind that you would like to drink?” Casper asked as he moved to put the flower that he made ‘appear’ in Becky’s hair before going to follow his brother and sticking close. Both the siblings looking back at her with friendly smiles and making sure she was walking with them.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky was glad that at least the question about her grandfather had innocent roots. She thought that he would be really excited if she showed up next holiday with the trick down pat. And of course, her little cousins would be pleased to see the trick as well. She hoped that she could learn it, because when her grandfather did eventually pass away, they'd have someone in the family who could continue pulling his same tricks. Kind of a way to keep him alive. But that would be a while yet. "He'd really like that," she replied with a small smile to show that she hadn't been offended by the question. It may have been blunt, but at least it was honest and the intentions were pure.

She could tell that Casper's comment about his brother being slow to pick up on the sleight of hand tricks was probably just brotherly banter, but it did make her feel a little bit better. She hoped that they were being honest and wouldn't laugh at her when she couldn't get it right away. She was sure it would take quite a few times to get it right and then the brothers would probably be able to tell exactly what she was doing anyway. They were the experts after all, and she wasn't trying to trick them. She doubted anyone could out-magic them, at this point. She knew they must have had professional training from somewhere.

She was equally impressed that Jasper could carry that bag of heavy balls over his shoulder like it was no big deal. Just one ball was heavy, she couldn't imagine trying to carry them all at once! But she was a weakling, so that was no surprise. And if the brothers could juggle those heavy balls, carrying them around probably wasn't that hard. She touched the flower that Casper had put in her hair and smiled a little bit.

"Thanks," Becky said as they approached the vending machine. She didn't have any money on her, though, so that might be a bit of a problem. She should offer to pay for it. "I can pay you back," she promised. She looked at the options on the vending machine. It didn't really matter to her, as long as it was something cold that she could rest against her head in between sips. She ended up just picking the cheapest option. "Bottled water is fine." That had the most flexible bottle as well, so maybe it would be a bit easier to press against her temple.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

"Cool. Then once we get all settled down we can show you it." Jasper pointed out since it was a fairly simple trick after all. Well he and his brother thought it was one of the simpler ones and figured that they could get to teasing her how to do it as soon as they got what they wanted out of the vending machine and found a place to sit. Of course they had to wait and make sure that Becky would be up for it and she didn't have any brain injury or anything like that but they felt like she was going to be fine. It was not like the balls were solid steel or concrete, so yeah besides a little bump on the head she more than likely would be fine. She was smiling, showing to the brothers that she had been alright with the blunt question. Not that the brothers would have been all that worried if it had upset her, it was not their intent but if she did get upset, well it was too late to take back the question so all they would be able to do would be say that they were sorry.

It was a bit of brotherly banter, but it was also a fact because Jasper really had been a little slower to pick up those certain tricks. Just like Casper had been slow on picking up other tricks, but they both worked at it and got better. Trading on and off with what little tricks they would be carrying on them in order to show them off to different people. They would not have thought of themselves as experts since while they had been doing it for years now, they always could get better. Magic tricks were something that with age you seemed to get better at and those years of practice really did pay off. They were only sixteen so still had years ahead of them to practice and train but they were confident they could help her out on a basic trick at the very least. They were professionals, she could call them that since they did have professional training and with the years and proof of what they could do, they were at the very least at the professional level.

As for carrying the balls, yeah it was no problem and they were pretty sure that Becky would be able to at least drag them around if she put some effort into it. Would be a great workout for her, that was for sure. She was saying thanks again as the brothers were already paying for what they wanted to drink and snack on. Getting themselves some soda and chips because junk food was the best after a practice. Not really, but shhh, they wanted to be a little unhealthy for the moment. "No need to pay us back." Casper assured Becky as he managed to hold their things in his one arm while he put in the money for what Becky wanted. Just water. Punching in the code and picking up the water and handing it to her before the two of them headed somewhere where the three of them could sit together.

Waiting for Becky to sit first so they could sit on either side of her as they liked to do when dealing with a person one on one. "Now, for the coin trick." Jasper would begin when they were all seated and looked settled. "Really it’s just another one of those, look at this hand while this hand is actually doing the trick type of deal." Jasper said nodding his head but his brother felt that it was important to add something in there. "There are actually two different ways to do the trick. One involves two hands and the other is just carefully holding said coin the right way so no one sees it." Casper added, since there were many ways to do this trick, but only two that he thought were effective.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky watched as the brothers got what they wanted out of the vending machine. It was quite a lot of food and sugar and stuff, but she guessed that they must be pretty hungry after expending that much energy. If Becky was sure that she wouldn't throw up or something and if she was paying for herself, she would have gotten other things. But water was a pretty safe choice and one that she knew wouldn't come back and hurt her later. She already felt bad that Jasper and Casper were buying her water, she didn't want to add anything else onto that list.

"Are you sure?" she asked as she took the water bottle from them. She didn't want them to pay for it because they felt guilty about hurting her and she really would have paid for her own water if she'd thought to bring money with her to the student lounge. But she let the matter drop, figuring that it would be pretty rude to keep pestering them about it when they already said that it was okay. Before they sat down, she opened up the water bottle and took a sip of the cold liquid. Then she screwed the cap back on and pressed it against her head, sighing a little bit. Yeah, that felt good. She knew it wasn't a serious injury, but it was enough to smart, and she wanted to keep the swelling down as much as possible.

Becky sat down with the water bottle still pressed against her forehead, but she was feeling bright and alert. The bump wasn't anything to worry about, just an annoyance. She felt a little claustrophobic when one brother sat on one side of her and the other brother sat on the other. It was like they were boxing her in. She'd always had trouble dealing with more than one person at a time, but she should at least be able to handle two. She listened to Jasper's explanation of the coin trick and then Casper's addendum. "Yeah, my grandfather tried to teach me the two-handed one, if I remember right," she explained. She didn't know if the one handed one was easier. It actually sounded more difficult. "But, um, whatever you think will be easier for me to pick up on. I guess it's the subtlety that I've always had trouble with." She brought the water bottle down to take another sip.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Yes, they were pretty hungry and they did eat a lot, part of the side effect of their power and the fact that they were pretty tall and muscular boys. They needed to eat, and even if what they got was all snacks, it would hold them over for a little while before the cafeteria would open up and then they could stuff their faces with food. The brothers didn't really know how to cook anything unless it was over an open fire or in the microwave. They tended to just eat with their circus family and there was a cook who cooked for all of them so they never really bothered to learn how to do such a thing. They figured they might want to give it a try at some point but the school had a cafeteria so they were not too worried about it at the moment. "Positive. It's just cheap vending machine stuff." Casper said with his brother Jasper nodding in agreement. Sure they were not rolling in the doe or anything, but it was not something they were worried about at the moment.

Plus they had hit her with one of their balls and it was just water, so it really was no trouble at all. Plus she was pretty cute and that meant they could spend more time around their red headed and freckled face friend. So it was more than just guilt that had them paying for a drink for her. There was also the fact that they wanted a snack, they wanted to show her the magic trick, so it all worked out well enough for them to get her something while they were all traveling together. They were already munching a little bit on what they got when they sat down, sharing with one another and even holding out their bags in case Becky changed her mind and she wanted some too. They did not even catch on that she might not have liked with the two of them on either side of her. It was kind of a habit of there to make sure that they were sort of including someone in with them. Too many times did they talk to one another as if the person was not right there and they found that they did it less when a person was between the two of them.

"Ah two-handed huh? Then we will show you that one and if you get it down we will show you the one handed one too so you have a way to trick your grandfather with it." Jasper said as he pulled out a coin and started to play with it, rolling it over his fingers with just one hand. Casper munched some more before wiping his hands on his pants and pulled out a coin as well. At least he waited until his mouth was clear before speaking. "Alright, I'm just going to do it and then explain it." Casper said as he showed her the coin in his right hand and acted like he put it in his left hand. Only to really keep it in his right and open his left to show that the coin had vanished as his right hand moved to behind her ear and 'pulled' the coin out from behind it. "It's just as simple as that." Jasper said since it really was that easy of a trick so long as you made it look right.

Casper showed the coin again, this time going to explain it while his brother went to munching on the snack they brought. "So you show the coin and move to put it in your left. Hand. Really you are keeping it in your right hand and holding it in such a way that it’s no big deal, but you want them to focus on your left hand. You can do this by saying like magic words or something." Casper said as his right hand was already away and he was moving his left hand around. "Then you open your left hand to reveal that the coin is gone while you move your right had behind their ear and reveal the coin." Jasper then explain the rest as his brother did it and then Jasper reaching out for Becky's hand to point the coin that he was playing with in her hand. Basically telling her to give it a try.