Must. Avoid. Eye. Contact (Piper)

[Piper Galloway]

Piper watched Jack curiously, her eyes gleaming brightly. He seemed to be the more confused of the two which, in a strange way, was almost comforting to the demure, often timid girl. Her head shook again but she paused mid-shake and furrowed her brow. "I do attend the same university as you." She offered, her tone still quiet. "Perhaps you've seen me around, just can't remember where?" It sounded as good a reason as any to explain why Jack was so insistent.

"What? Erm, no." Piper stammered through her answer and she had to take a short pause in order to piece together Jack's bizarre question. "I've never been to Dublin." She replied finally. "I grew up around London before coming here. Didn't get to travel around much." She quickly shifted the focus of the conversation back to Jack, though. "Why? Did someone who looked like me steal your lunch box when you were little?"

Piper had been talking to Jack for all of five minutes and she was already getting a full tour of the way his mind worked. The mention of cheerleaders and basements and a woman suit was met with a blend of uncertainty and curiosity. She was less focused on the words that had come out and more on the person who was saying them. "I guess I was taking a chance." Piper reasoned with a faint shrug. "But you don't look like the kind of person that wants to hurt anyone." Clear blue eyes fell upon Jack and seemed to light up with the smile Piper gave him. "Am I right?"

[Jack McCarthy]

“Right. yeah. I knew that…”Ok, he might have a point there, Jack’s memory wasn’t exactly as sharp as a scalpel in fact he could barely remember what he had for breakfast that morning, so it was entirely possible that it was exactly what was happening and Jack had no clue why his mind jumped to how familiar she was….

….Really he kind of knew why he was focused on her face and he knew exactly why he thought he seen her before.

But he wasn’t going to go there…

Jack sat back and tilted his head forward a little , sweeping the mug by his side and wincing a little clearly not a fan of ever talking about his past or his childhood especially considering this girl was just a relative and opening up, yeah no that was never a fun course of action for Jack no way no how “Someone that looked like everyone stole my lunch. I got my lunch stolen pretty much every day. Not that i had a lot. Like Pieces of bread and you know….Stuff. Wow this coco is great” Jack rambled out of the blue, quickly running out of steam and hoping he could change the subject quickly.

The instant Piper asked that question a slight chill went up Jack’s spine. Those eyes, that smile...it was all too familar...and Jack quickly dropped his gaze staring at the floor numbly rubbing his hands through his eternally messy hair “Man, I really need to pick up my street cred if that’s my rep. Maybe start a few fights, form a biker gang...I don’t know if I can afford a leather jacket though

[Piper Galloway]

Piper, as she commonly did when someone else was talking, fell totally silent and listened with an almost rapt attention. She loved hearing people speak, especially about themselves. She carried with her an innate curiosity about the people around her she was incapable of shaking. Even the most outwardly boring people had inherently exciting, intriguing stories to tell and Piper quietly enjoyed every moment of it. Especially when the person in question was as much of a character as this young man in front of her.

When Jack's rant slowed to a stop Piper merely sat in silence and studied him. She always seemed to be studying everything around her, let alone the strange Irish guy with the certain underlying sweetness about him. When he picked up again to speak of biker gangs and leather jackets Piper let out a soft giggle and brought up a hand to politely cover her mouth. "What's wrong with being known as a nice guy?" She challenged, her voice remaining in that soft tone she'd become synonymous with. Carefully she leaned forward and tugged the blanket up, further over Jack's shoulders so he could keep his hands on the mug of cocoa. "If that's what you are..." She started, settling back and offering Jack an almost sheepish smile. "... then you should embrace it."

[Jack McCarthy]

She didn’t say much did she? Which might make this conversation just a little bit awkward especially considering that Jack wasn’t exactly a man that should in any way be leading a conversation. Given his proclivity to verbalize everything that hit his stream of consciousness. But fortunately Jack’s gung ho nature about leading a conversation seemed to be clearing out any sense of awkwardness they might have had together. It was like Jack was having a conversation with himself and Piper was a passive observer, it really shouldn’t have worked at all

...but here they were.

Jack really was trying to keep her eyes to himself and avoid general eye contact with the girl. Like she was the sun and making direct eye contact with her will somehow damage his eyes totally, it was just….too familiar, she brought up long stored memories that Jack would prefer to keep locked away in the room in the back of his mind long forgotten

So he didn’t answer he stared at the ground as if there was something totally fascinating down there, flinching just a little where she tugged the blanket over him, his normal reaction to sudden unexplained physical contact. Not that it was a motion to warn her off, just the surprise of feeling a person’s fingers on his person.

Jack was slightly struck silent by her words not able to muster a response to that, that was a loaded question for Jack, but he preferred to keep mum on that topic…. “I’m Jack by the way...Jack Mccarthy is case you were...you know...wondering..

[Piper Galloway]

"Hey." Piper said softly. She felt the way he had tensed when she drew near and even moreso when she tugged at the blanket. There was something troubling Jack. Even a blind monkey with Alzheimer's could see that much with relative ease. She lingered close, trying to tilt her head so she could study Jack's features before pulling away and returning to her seat. "Is..." She only managed to get out the one word before pausing and giving a frown. She must have done or said something. She'd gotten too close, been too timid, freaked him out by following him into the student lounge from the bus. Jack was spooked and Piper was certain she was the culprit.

A smile touched her features, though, when he offered his name. Piper leaned forward, again trying to capture the gaze he insisted on casting anywhere but in her direction. "Jack." She repeated, uttering the name with a certain sense of appreciation and wonder. He was a strange fellow, to say the least, one who tugged mightily at her curiosity. "Well, Jack." Piper started slowly. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She finally got a full sentence out and gave him a short nod along with it.

[Jack McCarthy]

Piper really shouldn’t blame herself for Jack being spoked that was like blaming yourself because the dog can’t quite seem to be able to catch his own tail. Jack could be easily considered the most easily spooked person currently breathing in Oxygen and breathing out Carbon Dioxide. He was spooked by breakfast for God sake. He was jumpy. Paranoid and generally easily startled, So no Piper shouldn’t take any offense by Jack’s state.

Jack was simply….well...Jack….

But Piper was somewhat bringing about old memories, and the closer that she got the more it was like he was poking an invisible switch in the back of his mind that he wanted to keep locked in a box

With some degree of delayed horror Jack noticed how close she was getting, in something of a panicked way, suddenly he tilted his head towards the ceiling his head slightly vibrating with nervous. “You see that?! I think that giant bee is on the ceiling. Crawling around like Spider! Beeder? See? I don’t know what you call a cross breathing abomination result of a torrent love making section” Jack said pointing towards the bug only he could see, and he was clearly was getting more nervous as he talked more and more as he rambled. Oh what? Oh yeah yeah yeah. You too yeah yeah yeah. Fair buzz. yeah yeah yeah. You think if I tried I could put my entire foot in my mouth”

[Piper Galloway]

Piper fell silent as Jack went on his rant. She watching him curiously though there was no hiding the faint traces of distress that touched her features. She settled into the couch she'd been sitting on and lowered her gaze. It was obvious Jack had little interest in carrying on much of a conversation, unless this was his way of communicating. She'd only been trying to help but she should have expected to be pushed away as always.

"O-okay." She said, nodding a bit to herself. Piper spoke as if she was answering some unheard question and, in truth, she sort of was. Her shoulders slumped as she resigned herself to another instance of being cast aside. She didn't know if there was something about her or if she simply chose the wrong people to try and talk to but here she was, yet again sitting awkwardly near someone who so obviously wished she would make herself scarce.

After a long silence Piper abruptly got to her feet. "Okay." She repeated. This time the word much more curtly and the amount of hurt and distress that leaked out in her tone was unintentional yet easily palpable. She swallowed hard and nodded once. "You should stay by the heater until you dry off." She said, turning now to step away and escape the awkwardness of rejection before it could fully set in. "Or else you'll catch cold."

[Jack McCarthy]

Huh, Jack couldn’t help but think he gotten away with that.

Of course Jack really didn’t want to ignore he seemed just….really...strangely nice for whatever reason, sure she was a little quiet and she stared….A lot seriously did she blink once? The effect was really disconcerting….especially when Jack was actively trying to avoid her eyes as…...vibrant as they were.

But besides that she was perfectly nice despite Jack haven’t done nothing to deserve that kind of treatment whatsoever

Did he ever?

Jack was actively trying to maintain a wall but once Piper got up, the concern flashed up on Jack’s face. She was hurt, she was upset….HE had hurt her. He had upset her.

Perfect just perfect once again, Jack thought numbly to himself, the regret hitting his hard as he remained silence staring at the ground, Wondering why he ever opened his mouth in the first place.

Eventually it all became too much for him

“WAIT! Jack called after her hoping to stop her “Don’t go, if you don’t want to….I kind of…..Say things sometimes. I can’t really turn it off” He smiled sheepishly

[Piper Galloway]

Piper had every intention on putting distance between herself and Jack. She didn't move quickly, she never did, but escape was on the forefront of her mind. She didn't get far before freezing in place. Piper visibly flinched at the shout. She cringed and recoiled into herself, bring a hand up to press against her ear. She had stopped, though, slowly turning to look at Jack with a pained expression showing plainly in her eyes. The sudden call hadn't hurt but had been received with obvious discomfort.

"I-" She stammered briefly before frowning. Her hand lightly rubbed against the side of her face as she looked to Jack. "Please... not so loud." She replied weakly, hesitating a moment before carefully moving back to the couch and reclaiming her seat. "I'm really sensitive to loud noises." She explained quietly, almost looking ashamed at the admission. She then fell silent, her hands fidgeting in her lap as she searched for something to say.

[Jack McCarthy]

Ok, boy oh boy ok. Take two, He’s got another life. Another bite of the cherry. Which didn’t happen quite a lot, in fact it happened quite rarely usually people didn’t feel like giving Jack a second chance a lot of the time. Usually someone just had a conversation with him, quickly left the room and NEVER spoke to him again.

Jack had no clue why she decided to give him another chance, but hey. This was certainly a new experience for Jack.

“Oh great you’re-” Jack started in his usual bombastic way before he saw the pain in her eyes with shut him up quick quickly, putting his fingers to his lips as she was instructed “Sorry” he muttered eager to make sure she stayed this time, his voice barely heading above a whisper “or I can mime it if you want-” Jack said making a bunch of vague hand gestures that looked like he was having some kind of fit trying to be as helpful as possible before he bowed his head in resignation “So, you’ll be leaving yeah?”

Well. He gave it a shot….

[Piper Galloway]

Piper watched Jack curiously, as she'd been doing for much of their sometimes bizarre interaction. The smile then slowly crept back onto her face as Jack began to speak in a much more hushed tone. Usually people shrugged her off or rolled their eyes when she admitted her sensitivity to them. It wasn't as if sound was the only thing that got to her. Moving too quickly gave her vertigo and bright or flickering light was enough to instantly give her a crushing migraine. She was action packed with issues.

"Regular voice is okay." Piper insisted with a curt, yet polite nod of her head. "And don't apologize. You didn't know and it didn't hurt." She laughed softly then, offering a sheepish shrug. "I'm a little jumpy." She couldn't help the almost gentle giggling that came with Jack's frantic waving about and she covered her mouth politely. She didn't even flinch or waver when Jack seemed resigned to her leaving. She waved a hand dismissively. "Why would I do that?" She asked, genuinely unsure why he would say such a thing. "It's been three years now since I came here and I think this is the longest conversation I've ever had with another student."

[Jack McCarthy]

You know funny enough whenever Jack felt the need to break into mime it usually resulted in that conversation being broken off rather abruptly he really should look into learning that as an actual skill rather instead of actually winging it and making it up as he goes, what if he accidentally said something super racist in sign language accidental.

That was on Jack’s top ten worst fears: accidentally racist sign language

But no, Jack wasn’t going to roll his eyes just because of some kind of weakness towards sound and light in general. For god sake he was best friends with Lux for years and she was the very definition of fragile so Jack was used to this…

...What he wasn’t used to, was people actually staying and not heading for the hills after he pretty much made social mistake after mistake, but it seemed like Piper build up a fair about of tolerance for BS. In fact Jack reacted with surprise when Piper revealed that she’s never had a longer conversation.

That was kind of sad….

“Seriously? Most of my conversations last like….well until I start using sign language then people tend to leave fairly quickly...in fact people tend to leave quick quickly no matter what. Maybe it’s because of the whole…

Jack paused and waved his head rapidly over his head “Ahhh” thing I have going on….why don’t people talk to you? You seem….normal...Do you have like a third eye n your forehead? A tail? Oh, do you know automatically what people’s kinks and fetishes are?! If there was ever a power that should be exploited for money

[Piper Galloway]

Another soft giggle escaped as Piper watched Jack go on yet another mini-rant. Her eyes gleamed brightly and she seemingly hung on every word as if Jack was speaking pure gold instead of near nonsense. There was something disarming about him, something in the way he seemed to lose himself inside his own head much in the same way Piper had a habit of doing. He just happened to vocalize everything in an unfiltered, unashamed stream of consciousness. It was refreshing, actually, to find someone so genuinely themselves.

The question caused Piper to give a resigned sigh and a short shrug of her shoulders. She knew the bulk of the blame fell on her own shoulders. She wasn't a personable individual. She was guarded and private, for the most part. Most people were into things like parties or sports while she opted to remain inside and knit or listen to audiobooks. She couldn't even stand to watch much in terms of TV shows or movies due to the side effects of her power. It left her with precious few things to talk about. "It's my fault, mostly." She admitted freely. "I don't often have much to say so I usually stat quiet."

[Jack McCarthy]

Jack had no internal monologue to speak of, unfortunately, nor any filter to speak of. It wasn’t so much that Jack more or less vocalized his thoughts but instead he was voice was his thoughts, totally and utterly. If he had a solid thought that wasn’t confused and out there. He had to stop himself from saying it outright.
Jack had a theory that mental patients and serial killers had the same exact problem and he trained himself to stop himself from that kind of behavior lest he be locked up with Frank Cox anytime soon
If SHE was locked up then surely Jack wasn’t too far behind
Jack just continued to sip at his cocoa watching Piper give her answer tucking his feet up in front of him as he did. Thankfully the drink has cooled down so the risk of Jack scalding himself was minimum “You don’t seem very quiet to me” Jack admitted “You’re...You know watta call it? Kind of…..” Jack said trying to think of the words“You contribute other things to the conversation...like...cocoa and...staring”

[Piper Galloway]

Piper didn't know what to make of Jack just yet. He was a rare blend of unique quirkiness and a certain sense of genuine realism that was missing in so many people these days. He may have been an unorthodox and peculiar individual but Piper didn't suspect for a moment that was was seated in front of her was nothing less than the real, true, honest to God Jack. It was almost startling how honest he was. It felt so strange and alien for Piper to not have to wade through the guarded, evasive personalities she predominantly dealt with.

Her lips parted to reply before Jack's words had fully settled in. Piper took them as nothing less than a compliment and responded as was expected. Her mouth closed before words could escape and she lowered her head, a strand of hair falling into her face. "I'm glad you think so." She said softly, reaching up to tuck the errant hair back behind her ear before glancing up to Jack and offering him an embarrassed smile. "Most have little to say to a girl who can't watch TV and prefers knitting to video games or partying."