Bull On Parade

[Jaiden Bolton]

Jai had finally been assigned a permanent dorm now that its previous occupant was moving out to pursue college life. It had been quiet, awkwardly quiet, in his temporary dorm. Most of the inhabitants were either seniors moving out or had disappeared over the holidays to visit family. On the plus side, he’d had the kitchen pretty much to himself – more importantly the fridge. On the downside, he’d been going bored out of his mind. The only problem was that Jai didn't travel light and Bellefonte didn't employ a horde of porters to carry his stuff around. Impersonating a packhorse was not high on Jai’s list of fun ways to spend a Sunday morning. He stared at his pile of bags, stacked haphazardly at the foot of his old bed, mentally trying to work out how much he could carry at once and how fast he could run up a staircase without risking injury. Three trips worth of stuff plus four floors plus super speed minus reckless endangerment equals….Way too long.

And then there was Mia and her giant lizard palace. She’d been a surprise gift from his parents who seemed to be under the impression he was attending Hogwarts and needed some kind of exotic pet. Good luck at your new school, here’s a pet chameleon we did absolutely no research about before buying!Typical. They couldn't have been impulsive pet buyers all those years ago when he’d begged and pleaded with them for a puppy. Mia was definitely not a puppy. She had creepy eyes. He was convinced that she hated him. The two of them could not have been more different. She moved with the exaggerated slowness of an elderly couple on a narrow and crowded walkway. The one cool thing about her, her bright flamboyant colouring, was completely wasted on him. Though, in her own weird way she was growing on him and he’d dished out an obscene amount of cash to buy her a new habitat online to keep her happy. The lizard palace. The nearly impossible to carry alone, Lizard palace. It wasn't exactly heavy since its sides were mesh instead of glass, but it was as tall as he was and thrice as wide making it damned awkward to carry up stairs.

Screw it. He needed the cavalry or whichever unsuspecting teenager he could bribe into giving him a hand. He grabbed a couple of bags, might as well get one of the trips out of the way, blew Mia a kiss and slammed the door of his temporary room behind him. He took the stairs three at a time and was panting by the time he reached the floor of his new dorm. He knocked on the door to the common area of room 403, mentally patting himself on the back for being polite, and poked his head inside. ‘Hello? Anyone here? It’s an emergency! I mean, no…yeah…definitely an emergency.’

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The brothers had been told that they were going to be getting another roommate soon, which was good to hear. They were worried it was just going to be the two of them for a little while. They had two other bed rooms open since all the rooms had four people in them and the brothers took up two rooms. Sure they sometimes ended up in one another room but not all the time and even with how they were a lot alike, they were still their own people...sort of. Either way, they knew they wanted roommates but from what they heard a lot of people when with the Co-Ed dorms. Here the brothers thought they were hormonal, but at least they had enough sense to not willing pair up in a dorm where there would be temptations. Sure they were bi at the moment so being with guys probably was not fully smart either, but at least with guys they would feel less bad about being in their 'birthday suites' if they felt the need to be. Thankfully for Jaiden then were both dressed and hanging out in their own rooms, cleaning up a little bit.

Normally they worked together on such a task, but figured if they did their own rooms they would get done at around the same time and be done with it. They were pretty much all done by the time they heard the door in the common area being knocked. Was their new roommate here already? Both the bother left their room, leaning on the same side of their' door frames and looked at the boy who peeked in saying that it was an emergency. It probably would be a little weird for this guy to be seeing double of them and the fact that he would be seeing the same sight standing and leaning in their doorway. "You don't look like you are bleeding or dying." Jasper said, since even to the brothers that was more of something that counted as an emergency. Casper gave a small nod, but if this was their new roommate they should at least here him out and get to know him.

"What can we do you for?" Casper asked as he and his brother started to move towards that main door. Jasper snickering a little at his brothers words choice and Casper not able to hold back a quick snicker as well. Yeah, they were sixteen years old and not always mature, but they were still young so it was fine.

[Jaiden Bolton]

Jaiden yelped at the sight of the boys and quickly turned the sound into a cough, trying to hide his surprise. The first thing that went through his mind was that he was sharing a dorm with the all grown up cast of the Children of The Damned. It took him a moment to realise he wasn’t seeing double and for rational logic to knee him in the stomach. Twins. Or maybe clones but twins seemed the more likely option.

As soon as the thought lodged itself in his mind his mouth started running away with him. ‘Oh cool, you’re twins. That’s creepily awesome. I’m left handed and I read a theory somewhere that left handed people started out as twins but they absorbed their right handed twin in the womb. So…I guess I ate my twin but you didn’t eat each other which is good.’ As soon as the words left his mouth Jai realised that I ate my twin should be added to his long list of things not to say out loud when first meeting the people you’ll be sharing a living space with.

To cover his embarrassment he awkwardly dumped his bags by the door and glanced around the common room and kitchen area. It was technically a carbon copy of his old dorm but there was something about it that was subtly different, the place had a lived in feel to it. This was someone’s home and not just an impersonal one stop express motel. Jai liked it already. ‘Nice place you guys have here. I’m your new dorm mate. My names Jai.’

He shook his head reminding himself why he was there in the first place, ‘I’m not bleeding yet. You two look like big strapping lads, mind giving me a hand with something? It’ll only take a minute and if she’s in a good mood you might not lose any fingers in the process.’

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

This boy in their room did sort of a yelp, or was it that he just coughed weird like that? The siblings didn't really know and would not question it, instead just giving one another a quick look before focusing back on the boy. He could have just been spooked by there being two of them, and just in general how they looked. They could not have been the weirdest thing he had seen at the school and to them they thought they were pretty normal. Sure they were pretty pale and they had light hair, but there were people who were not mutants that looked like that...right? Either way the other guy seemed to get his coughing under control and was soon going into full on talking mode. Pretty much going with something like a speech that was...pretty weird. Talk about how he was left handed and how he read somewhere that he must have ate his twin in that case, and that was why he was left handed. Wonderful, this guy was a loon.

Sure the brothers knew about the whole twin eating the other twin, but for them they didn't eat one another at all, they even shared their mother's nutrients. It often happened that one twin would get more than the other, but in the case of those who were really identical they seemed to luck out and get an equal amount of what was needed to develop properly. Even better when they came into their mutations they ended up with the same one and their bodies both changed the same way. "Good to know that you are a twin eater, then." Casper said in sort of a half amused and not amused manner. Jasper snickering a little because he caught the little immature little hint behind his brothers words. Ah yes, sixteen year old hormonal boys who had a tendency to snicker at certain things. Bags were soon dropped and this other guy was looking around the room, commenting that they had a nice place and that he was their new dorm mate.

The brothers were half pleased to have finally another person rooming with them but that whole eating twin talk did have them wondering a little what this guy’s power was; and hoping that he did not have something that allowed him to literally eat someone. "I'm Jasper and this is my brother Casper." Jasper introduced the two of them by first pointing to himself and then his brother as they moved over closer to get a good look over Jai. He was kind of cute, and clearly he was a guy that had a lot of energy. The wondered if he could cook and if he like anime of manga, just trying to figure what fun they could have fun with their first ever roommate that was not the two of them. Jai was then talking about how he was not bleeding yet, calling them strapping lads; whatever that was, and then asking for their help. The brothers then sharing a glance with one another at Jai's latter comment.

"If she? Do you have a girlfriend that bites?" Casper asked and bother the brothers snickered a little bit. "Kinky." Jasper added after his brother’s words, but they both headed to leave the room, reaching out to push Jai out of the room so he could lead the way. "We be happy to help, lead the way." Casper said, figuring the more than likely Jai needed their help moving his stuff into the room and with their power; they could get that done easy. Wondering what the other boys power was now that they were looking over him.

[Jaiden Bolton]

"Good to know that you are a twin eater, then."

Jai winced. He wasn’t the kind to feel awkward in social situations, awkwardness was one of the many things he was all but oblivious to, but even he realised he’d firmly inserted his foot in his mouth. You only get one first impression and it seemed his was now as a twin cannibal. The only way it could have been worse was if he’d introduced himself by screaming a racist comment at them, set the dorm on fire or blasted a Justin Bieber song while wearing a tutu and moonwalking through the front door. On the bright side they hadn’t chased him out of the dorm, in fact they left their prospective doorways to come closer. ‘Yeah…I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. Don’t worry though, I don’t have a taste for twin blood or anything.’

Jasper introduced himself and his brother Casper. ‘Nice to meet you guys.’ Jai wasn’t at all confident that he’d be able to remember who was whom and made a mental note to never call them Thing One and Thing Two out loud. He was sure that given time he’d be able to pick up on individual mannerisms that would set them apart from each other. Until then it was a little overwhelming but he did his best not to show it. He couldn’t help but wonder which one was the evil twin. Because there was always an evil one, right? His money was on Jasper. ‘Super powered identical twins with rhyming names, you’d make excellent super villains.’

‘A kinky Girlfriend? I wish. Well, she’s cold blooded and high maintenance so you aren’t far from the truth. Nah, she’s my weird pet chameleon thing. Not my idea.’ He felt a wave of relief wash over him when Casper agreed they’d give him a hand – even after Jai’s blundered first impression. He flashed them his best smile, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet and gestured out the door and to the stairwell. ‘Right this way gents.’ Making a concerted effort not to run down the stairs like a crazy person, Jai led the way down to his old dorm.

‘Thanks so much for this by the way, you two are life savers.’ He shoved the door of his old room open, secretly glad that it would be one of the last times he’d be in there. With all his stuff haphazardly packed in his bags the room felt cold and impersonal with its bare walls. The only break in the clinical blandness was Mia’s giant foliage filled habitat and her fairly large chameleon self. She was a dull mix of shades of grey to Jai but to the rest of the world she was currently a vibrant swirl of lime green, yellow and violet. Jai gestured to her home, ‘I need to get this palatial monstrosity back upstairs to my room. Honestly, I would have just dissembled it but it took me like five hours to put the thing together.’

He walked over to the mesh cage, opened and reached inside to gently dislodge Mia from her favourite branch. He didn’t think it was a good idea to leave her inside while carrying it around. ‘And this is Mia.’ She gave him one of her disgruntled looks with her creepy swivelling eyes and settled on his forearm, clinging to the sleeve of his hoody with her creepy little reptile feet. She was far from cuddly but she was definitely getting used to being handled. He lifted his arm for the twins to get a good look at her. Part of him hoped that seeing her would make them more eager to help him with the arduous task of carrying her home upstairs. But she wasn’t exactly an adorable puppy with the ability to melt hearts. Quite the opposite. ‘Think you guys will be able to carry it?’

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The brothers both just gave a small shrug at Jai's apology, not really seeing the need for him to say sorry for the whole twin eating comment. He was just trying to make conversation after all and while it was a very odd conversation to just start off with when you met a pair of twins. At least he didn’t like actually say that he had killed a pair of twins or someone in his family that had. That would have been too far, and plus they heard of the whole eating your twin in the womb things before so it was not something that was odd or weird to them. Just interesting way to start a conversation in their opinions. "Do you have a taste for other things of twins?" Jasper asked, unable to help the question from slipping out and snicker. Casper hitting his brother's arm even if he snickered a little as well. "Jasper, don't scare our new roommate now." Casper warned his brother who held up his hands like he was innocent, but really had been sneaky there but maybe Jai would miss that.

The brothers nodded their head, basically their silent 'likewise' to Jai's words of it being nice to meet one another. They honestly were happy to meet their new roommate and have the chance to get to know him better. They could already tell that he was a high level energy boy and probably the type to just say the first thing that came to his mind. "Super villains huh? Hear that brother; we would be good ad guys?" Jasper asked his brother who nodded in returning, considering this. "We are known to get under people's skin." Casper responded, so maybe they were a little on the villains side of things. They certainly could do bad things with their power and now they were thinking about it. The brothers both pouted when Jai said that he didn't have a kinky girlfriend; there went any possible fun in that area. The way he described his pet had them thinking a fish but it turned out to be a chameleon. The brothers actually were cool with their roommate having that kind of pet, having being around the Reptile Man growing up so they had a pretty good relationship with the creatures, or at least didn't have a problem with them.

"I just never liked that their eyes could look in two different directions." Jasper said as he pointed off in different directions with his brother agreeing. They were fine with reptiles but there were certain things about them they had an issue with, but the same could be said for pretty much all animals in the brothers opinions. They followed after Jai as he led the way, exchanging glances and looking over the boy in front of them. "No problem. Roommates should help one another, out." Casper said and he meant it since if they needed help then they would fully expect Jai to help them. He owed them that much at the very least. When they arrived to Jai's old room they looked over the set up, it was pretty nice. Like a pent house for a chameleon, she was practically a diva with this place. "Cool, should be easy enough." Jasper said as he and his brother walked around it to see where good spots to pick it up were at.

The sibling’s eyes went back to Jai when he pulled out his pet and introduced her. "Her eyes are doing the thing." Jasper pointed out and did almost a girlish stomp thing as if he was freaking out about a spider being on the floor, but got over it within a second. The siblings looking over the creature for a moment, and decided they ask to pet it later when they got over the whole eyes thing. "Will we be able to carry it he says?" Casper repeated and the brother chuckled as they used a little bit of their power to pick up Mia's home without any problem. "Just get the doors for us and make sure not to drop Mia." Jasper said and the brothers would move to head back to the room as soon as Jai got the door to make sure it would not close on them. "What’s your power?" The brothers then asked together since they had forgotten to ask and they wanted to know.