Looking For Jasper

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe laughed, looking away for a moment. "A bit of both," she said softly. She'd only recently gotten the power after all, and she'd even more recently started using said power to actively touch others. It still felt odd feeling the skin on skin and not thinking of it as some kind of romantic gesture. It almost deadened the whole touching experience, but Zoe figured that she certainly had things that she could reserve for that.

This train of thought led her to blushing, and she very nearly missed the comment about the brother. She nodded as he finished though, already having agreed. Zoe tried to cover the awkward moment by taking another bite of her yogurt, making sure to eat a small bit. She really did just peck at her food like a bird.

"What? Um, I, uh, guess I could?" she said. She looked to Casper, wondering at someone who would just ask someone to start talking about herself while they were looking for a twin or something. She'd of course started walking and had essentially signed up for this and all. "Well, I'm from London, originally," she said, her voice quavering slightly. She chewed her lip. "I'm not... it doesn't feel... are you sure you really want me to talk about... myself?" She was tempted to add that she wasn't that interesting, but that felt like a stretch. Most of the people here had interesting backstories, after all, especially if they'd survived the SPECTRE incident.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

“Oh? How old are you then?” Caper asked when she said that it was a bit of both. So she had to be young if she was still new to her power. He remembered being told that people mainly came into their powers pretty young, during the time of going through puberty. He and his brother didn’t have their powers that long either, they were both sixteen years old and that was when they got their powers. So she had to at least be in her upper teens since he could not fully picture her anything below fourteen years old. She looked, too developed to be that young.

He did catch the blushing, wondering what she was thinking about. Part of him wished he had the power to read minds over the ability he had. Then again, being able to only read minds probably got boring and was not nearly at entertaining as all of the things he could do. She just nodded at his words and took a bite at her food, eating rather slow and small bites. Was she not used to getting food often and savored every bite. Or was she one of those girls who worried about her weight?

Casper glanced her over again, not really seeing that she needed to worry about her weight and he didn’t want to judge her too hard but she was pretty thin. Maybe he needed to give her more complements about how she was perfect he way she was or something along those lines so she didn’t worry about how she was eating around him. He personally liked a chic that could eat or in general was tough. “That’s the accent!” Casper explained before clearing his throat. He got excited there for a moment for knowing where she was from based on how she was speaking.

“I asked so that generally means I do in fact want you to talk about yourself. If you are uncomfortable about it I guess we can talk about something else.” Casper said. He never understood why people would say things like ‘oh you don’t want to know about me’ or anything along the lines that would push away what had just been asked of them. Sure people did ask people certain questions just to be nice, but Casper was curious and he didn’t like the silence. Yet, if she was uncomfortable he was trying to think up what they could talk about.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"Um, eighteen?" Zoe nearly squeaked out, flushing again. She very quickly shoved more yogurt into her mouth, already braced for the inevitable comments that would follow. Most mutants got their abilities much earlier, much earlier. Zoe didn't even know how to really explain it. Right now, she just looked away.

The embarrassment didn't diminish as the comments continued. Yes, she still had the accent, and she supposed that she should be used to people commenting on it by now. It just made her flush a little bit more. He probably was thinking about her weight too: he certainly seemed like the kind of guy to notice things like that. The continued comments about the conversation really only made things worse.

"Well, uh, I'm just... not really used to talking about myself," she tried. She began fidgeting with her yogurt, stirring it about a bit. She took another bite, looked away for a moment, and the swallowed. She really needed to at least try, right? At least try to be friendly and all. that's what everyone kept saying. "So, um, uh, what else would you like to know?" she said. She forced herself to look at Casper and smile. "I, uh, just, um, like I said I'm not... great. So if you could, um... help?" she flushed, looking back at the yogurt. She'd been using it to cover up breaks in the conversation for so long that it was nearly gone already, and Zoe was sure she'd be feeling that soon enough.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Casper stopped when she said that she was eighteen years old. She was eighteen years old? She could pass for eighteen but she still looked so young and well eighteen was a bit old to be coming into powers, was it not? That was what he had learned but he could have been wrong. He was not expert and it was not all that big of a deal to him. Still, he was very confused and it was written all over his face as he stood there for a moment. Trying to process it all and if she was just pulling his leg with how she was behaving and saying that she was eighteen years old and still new to her powers.

"I would not have guessed that. Here I thought I was older then you." Casper admitted and then went back to walking. He was going to make sure to ask a teacher soon about when kids were supposed to come into their mutations again. She blushes a lot. I wonder if she is like getting sick or something. Or maybe she is not used to a guy talking to her? Casper thought to himself as he tried to figure the girl out. He and his brother prided themselves on being able to read people, figure them out, and know how to get under their skin. It was awesome to get her blushing, but when he was not trying to, it was weird and it was confusing him.

Where was his brother when he needed his help figuring out how this new toy worked? She went on to explain that she was not really used to talking about herself. So she was not the popular girl or the whole only cares about herself type. That at least helped Caper figure a few things out about her but there were still a few missing pieces. He played with his lip piercing as he thought on what he ask her, just as she asked what he wanted to know about her. Thing that you would likely burst into a red flame if Jasper asked you. Casper thought to himself, really missing his brother now.

"Well like things you like to do. What you do for fun, favorite color, food, type of music you like to listen to. You boyfriends name do you sit with your legs crossed or wide open...uh...do you like magic?" Casper suggested a few things she could talk about on their walk. He started to ask things his brother would normally asked and so quickly wrapped it up on the question about magic. Yes, magic. He was good at that, he could show her some tricks to pass the time if she didn't want to talk but he didn't have much on him.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

No, most people didn't seem to think that Zoe was eighteen. She certainly didn't look like it, or, well, she didn't think she looked all that old. Plus her experience with her powers certainly fell well short of the standard eighteen year old around here. Still, hearing it said so bluntly made her flush again, though she supposed that was pretty well her standard coloring around Casper; he certainly seemed to bring out those sort of reactions in her.

Zoe contended herself with playing with the yogurt for a few more steps. Just swirl it around, scrape the outsides, sort of move the stuff around. She did look up as Casper continued, outlining what he had in mind. Really, Zoe supposed she should have thought of stuff like that. When Casper said it, it just sounded so simple, so obvious. Though the part about the boyfriend just made her flush again.

"Um, okay," she said. Zoe paused to take a deep breath, looking away from the yogurt as she continued: "I like to write poetry and take pictures for fun. I'm, um, quite good at it, actually," she looked over at him for a moment, "I'm going to be doing a show in a month or so. I, ah, don't really like food?" She licked her lips for a moment. "I listen to softer music, more like, well, sung poetry, really. I don't have a boyfriend, mostly because I'm not really interested in boys that way. I just started dating a girl named Alice who's quite interesting and very, um, sexy," another deep flush, but Zoe barreled on: "I sit with my legs crossed and I do like magic," she nodded, then looked over at Casper. "Was that, uh, good?"

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

What if someone had the power to taste like the color they turned into? Casper could not help the thought that entered his mind. It was because the girl was so red and each time it would seem to be going away, it was back again. He honestly was not trying to make her change to being red like an apple or cherry, but it was happening. The temptation to do it on purpose was not rising up within him but he kept it at bay. It was easy enough to get her to be red without putting for the effort and he didn't want to cause the girl to faint from all the blood rushing to her head. Or did he?

She answered all of his questions. All of them. Now he was regretting not asking a few bolder questions that were a little more on the person side. For a shy girl she seemed fine giving out information about herself. He wondered how much he could get out of her and if it would be as easy as asking the question like he had just done. It was most certainly interesting. If only his brother was here to test out this potential toy with him, things would be even more interesting then.

"It's good to hear that you at least have confidence. With taking photos. A lot of girls like you tend to be very down on themselves, about everything." Casper pointed out and that would have been one thing that he didn't like about girls. "Why don't you like food? You know you are not fat, right?" Casper went ahead and asked, pointing out in a question manner involving about her weight. If she said she was fat, well then he was probably going to hit her and call her stupid because Zoe looked like she was easy enough to break without using his power. He did blink a few times when she pointed out that she didn't really like guys and that she had a girlfriend.

"Well darn. There are always a few really hot girls that we guys lose out to other babes, it sucks." Casper said, but he shrugged. If she wanted to like girls then that was her thing and he was not going to have a cow about it. Plus he liked watching girl on girl action so perhaps he luck out and see Zoe and whoever she was going out with getting all hot and heavy. Score. He smiled when she said she liked magic but then chuckled when she asked if that was good. Was she a puppy seeking praise? "I guess it was good. Would have been perfect if I didn't have to suggest what you should tell me." Casper pointed out, just being honest.

They were outside the gym now, Casper moving to peek into the window to first check to see that there were people in there. Once he saw that there was he held open the door for her to go in before him so they could look around. "Is there a special kind of magic you like, or do you like all types?" Casper asked, trying to figure out what she liked and hoped he had something on him that would meet her expectations.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe nodded, agreeing about her confidence with a camera. When she had that to hide behind, she could certainly feel more like herself, like she could actually talk to people and connect with them. That wasn't the only reason she did photography, of course, but it certainly was part of her reason for continuing to do it as often as she did. She ended up smiling at the comment about food.

"I know: I'm actually too skinny,' she replied, half-depreciating, half-joking. She knew that she should just be comfortable with herself and all; she just wished that she happened to have more, well, of herself. That would require eating more food though, and that just didn't appeal to her.

At least she managed to get him slightly off balance by being so open about her newfound sexuality. Zoe did flush at that, and felt like maybe she should have been a little more circumspect or tactful. She just couldn't help it, especially when he'd been so very forward and all. Plus it had just sort of tumbled out in the middle of all the other questions. Casper seemed willing enough, and Zoe did make note that she probably should and could have done better. Something to work toward, she supposed.

"Um," she said as they approached the gym. She got up and started looking through the windows. there appeared to be a few people; it often seemed like there was, considering the strange hours that teenagers kept in general. Add in powers and sometimes it seemed like the Academy never slept. "Good magic, I guess?" she looked over at Casper. "I didn't realize there was really that many types. I guess there's, um, that one series, uh.... Harry Potter? I've read a few; they were pretty good," she smiled and then looked again. "It seems like there are people in there. Maybe we should go and ask them if they've seen your brother?" It certainly seemed like a good idea to Zoe.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

"You are. You should be eating more than that yogurt you are mostly playing around with. Need something to eat that will put a little meat on your bones. Twigs don't last long in bed." Casper said in a matter of fact kind of way. He didn't actually have a lot of experience with sleeping with really skinny people or thin people in general. Or maybe he did and he was just forgetting and just saying what he assumed to be true. He was not all that sexually active despite the way he and his brother talked. Yet, they were teenage boys so it should have been expected they were going to talk a big game about their sex lives.

He glanced over to Zoe when she made a sound once they were at the gym. He chuckled when she said that she liked good magic. That didn't give him much to work with and he liked to think that his magic was in fact good. So without any real clue what she liked he figured a simple trick would be enough for her. Nothing that was too flashy and a hint of a basic trick with just a hint of flare to it to still make it cool. He opened his mouth to explain a few of the types of magic but started to laugh when she brought up Harry Potter and liking that kind of magic. "I meant actual magic, not magic in books and fairy tales." Casper pointed out, still chuckling a little as he spoke.

"I mean like illusions, tricking the eyes." Casper tried to explain it in the simplest way that he could as he reached into his jacket to get out his special deck of cards. He typically always had a deck of playing cards on him since that was his favorite kind of trick to do. Casper thought about her suggestion but gave a small shrug. "If he was in there I would be able to feel that he was here and if he had been here, it would be a lot more chaotic then it is now. That and I have lost interest in looking for him." Casper admitted.

Now he was interested in showing of his trick. After that, he didn't care anymore. He looked in two places he figured his brother was and since he was not there he planned to go back to his room to wait for his brother to get over it and come back on his own.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The usual protest regarding her eating habits rose up from Zoe, starting to form sounds and everything. They died as Casper immediately started talking about bed, which had Zoe flushing darkly, suddenly intensely interested in her mostly depleted yogurt. She was tempted to show it to him, to prove that she had, in fact, been eating it, at the least, but she was too stunned to really consider doing talking, let alone doing something bold like protesting.

Apparently she'd gotten the whole magic thing off too. Zoe looked up at Casper as he explained, insisting that he'd been talking about actual magic. Zoe tilted her head slightly, ready to ask what that meant, wondering if he thought his powers were magical or something. That might work on some people, but Zoe certainly knew better.

No, he meant illusions and card tricks and the like. Zoe let out a little "oh" and looked at the cards for a moment. "I always liked the tricks that, um, involved tricking the eyes. Especially if it involved making something out of nothing..." she drifted off, looking to the gym, realizing that Casper had not only not found his brother but didn't seem to care. She frowned. "Are you certain? About your brother, I mean. Shouldn't we at least go in and look? Your power could be malfunctioning or something," she shook her head and raised her hands, "not that I think your power doesn't work right! I just... I wouldn't want you to give up on looking for your brother... just, not yet," he did seem far more interested in magic now, and Zoe wondered if he was still trying to flirt with her. She really did have a steady relationship of sorts, and she had most definitely decided that she was quite homosexual, thank you very much.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Casper chuckled a little at seeing how Zoe turned really red when he brought up sex. So she is one of those types. Casper noted to himself as a smirk spread across his lips and stayed there. It was a shame that she was into girls or else he would have liked to test a few things out on her, just to see how red he could get her. Yet, without his brother around he didn't really feel in the mood to try and test if the girl was a full out lesbian or not. Perhaps another time but for now it was focusing on his brother. Yet, that too was no longer a desire and all he cared about was showing her the card trick he had in place.

Once he explained, she seemed to understand what he was getting at. He did not mean fake magic or magic from fantasy stories. Sure he figured there were a few kids with powers that could be related to that of magic if you thought about it that way, but it was not really magic. None of them were wizards and they were not at Hogwarts. Even if that kind of life would have been cool to live out and experience. There would have been a lot to do and certainly there would have been always something new going on that could pose a challenge for the students and staff. "Oh, I'm good at those as well but I only really have cards on me. Well...there is one that I have on me that you might like, but it is really basic." Casper said with a small shrug. He could make something appear out of nothing so to speak but that was just a flower he had hidden on him.

"I'm sure. I know for sure he is not in there. Can't feel him at all...well...I feel him but not in there..." Casper said now taking a moment to see if he could sense his brother. He did feel him somewhere around here, but not in the gym. Was he in the bathroom? "I'm not worried about it anymore. He will come back when he is done being upset." Casper said, once more going back to the magic trick as he shuffled the deck, displaying out the cards face down in front of her in his hands. "Pick a card, any card." Casper said, waving the cards around a little to entice her to pick instead of worrying about his brother.

Sure he had asked her for help with that, but he no longer cared about it. Yes, he cared about his brother and wanted to make sure he was okay. There was just the fact that he knew if he found his brother and if he was still upset then it would just make things worse to be around one another. "If you still think I should go find him after this trick, then we can get back to searching for him." Casper did add after a moment. Figuring he did owe it to her in a way to have the choice since he asked her for her help in the first place.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe frowned as Casper continued, insisting that his brother would be fine and all. He'd again redirected the conversation back to magic, insisting on doing a trick. Zoe really didn't see as though she had much of an option of actually saying "no" at this point, and part of her really did want to see what Casper came up with. The young man was just so insistent, even when he admitted to having at least felt a bit of his brother. Though Zoe supposed that it might be part of Casper's power: he could feel his brother at all times.

"All right," she finally said, adding a sigh. Zoe gave Casper a look that communicated just how silly she thought he was being before reaching to pull a card. She looked at it: eight of hearts. Zoe nodded and looked at Casper, waiting. In that wait came his comment, and she nodded.

"Good, so we'll look for him after the trick," she said, sounding a lot more determined and insistent than she had lately. Though it seemed as though Zoe used up all her determination in those few words, as she now focused her attention wholly on the card, practically using it as a shield.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Zoe did have a choice to say no, but if she did that would mean that Casper would just walk away and go back to his room. He didn’t have a point in sticking around if she didn’t want to see his magic or well talk about anything. He would just get bored and he was already done with the whole ‘trying to find his brother’ thing. He didn’t mind the silly look that she gave him; everyone reacted differently to magic tricks and towards him and his brother. He just cared about showing her the trick that was all.

He took a step closer to her when she agreed, smiling when she took one of the cards and made sure not to look at it. It didn’t have to; the way his trick worked he would always get the right card that the person picked. The only way his trick would fail would be if the other person cheated and did something to the card when they got it. He shuffled the deck after she took a card and then held his all of the cards in his left hand. “Card please. Hand it to me faced down and place it on top of the deck in my left hand.” Casper said, still smiling and going into his performance mode.

He had only made the deal to look for his brother after since she seemed to actually care about finding his sibling. He didn’t still, but would do it for the sake of making her happy and to not have completely wasted her time. “Agreed. Now watch closely.” Casper would say, planning on moving forward with his trick once she placed the card on top of the deck. He would then tap the card three times, picking it up, and showing it to her. Eight of hearts, but still not looking at it. He tucked the deck of cards into his pocket and at the same time the card that was her card would light on fire and burn up in an instant.

The trick was not over yet. He just wanted her to take in the fact that the card in front of her had just burned up and left nothing behind. “Now, please reach into the pocket you saw me place the remaining cards of the deck and pull a card out.” Casper informed her. It didn’t matter what card she pulled out from his pocket, it was not going to be her card, but he needed her to be just a little bit closer to him to pull off the rest of his trick.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

This boy still seemed strange to Zoe, but she figured she should go along. Most of the people at the school were strange by definition, after all. So she simply handed the card over as instructed, then folded her arms behind her back. She'd at least gotten him to agree to look for his brother, though part of her wondered if there was much point if he was going to be distracted by something like a magic trick.

It did seem impressive though, and Zoe proved to be a decent audience. She gasped as he drew out the card, then clapped her hands as it went up in flames. She looked to him. "Did you do that with your power or--" but the trick apparently wasn't done. She blinked as he gave the new order, looking to his pocket. Zoe nodded and cautiously leaned forward, pausing to try and remember which pocket the cards had gone in.

Eventually Zoe picked one. She slid her hand into it, looking for a card, working to extract it. She was already peeking, seeing black and frowning as she wondered what Casper had in mind here.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Casper smiled proudly when Zoe reacted the way he wanted her to part of his trick. He loved using flash fire, so much. It was quick, left no mess, and it just looked so cool to be able to just have show up seemly out of nowhere. Flash fire was almost at the top of his list next to card tricks and that was why he often put the two of them together. There was a question there, about this power that he was fine answering while he was showing off the trick. Her preferred to answer questions at the end, but talking to her while still doing the trick was good for causing a distraction.

A large part of magic was tricking the eyes and causing a distraction. A basic, look at this while I'm actually doing this over here. "It is not my power no. My power is Physical prime. Think of like the peak of the human condition in every ways...except mental. Not to say that I'm dumb or anything." Casper explained as she reached around in his pocket to pull out a card. The siblings were not dummies; they just could not use their power to increase their intelligence like they could increase their aim, speed, strength, and so on.

He chuckled at seeing the frown on her face when she pulled out a card that was not her card. "That is clearly not your card, but don't worry. I know where your card it." Casper said, still in showmen ship state of mind and speaking. He was so excited to wrap his trick up and hope that she enjoyed the end result. "Why don't you have another scoop of your yogurt?" Casper asked, pointing to practically what nothing the remained in her yogurt. If she scooped or pretty much reached in, then she would end up pulling out what looked like a folded piece of paper. If she unfolded it then it would end up being the eight of hearts.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

So this wasn't his power? That felt all the more impressive in Zoe's eyes, to think that he'd just learned to do this on his own. Then again, she supposed that people might feel the same way whenever they saw one of her photographs or actually caught her actively photographing anything. Though some part of her wondered if Casper didn't use some part of his power. It certainly had to be at least a little helpful in doing magic, despite what he said.

Zoe shook her head though, agreeing that Casper wasn't dumb. She opened her mouth, ready to point out that anyone who could do tricks like this certainly couldn't be very dumb. Though it turned into that frown, which only deepened as Casper insisted. "Then where--" Zoe began, only to stop as Casper asked her to take another scoop of her yogurt. She'd all but forgotten about it, mostly because the cup was all but empty. Now she looked down, and let out a little cry.

"That's my card!" she said, reaching in to pull it out. "That's really neat!" Zoe flipped it over, looking at both sides. "You're sure that you didn't use your power?" she couldn't help but wish that she'd had her camera to catch this, though she wasn't sure how well it would look on film. She held out the card anyway, expecting Casper to want it back.