It All Sounds Like

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

It made the brothers feel really good when she confirmed that they had the right idea and in general that she was not stopping them. That meant that they were at the very least doing the right thing and that these cookies were not going to turn out awful. It was difficult to cook when they didn't know and had to actually pay attention to what she said so they would not mess anything up. The siblings often got yelled at or scolded, but more often it was just that they got in trouble and then when dealing with other student’s things didn't always go so well. So many students at the school were so lame in their opinion.

They did tower over her, but they were used to towering over a lot people. They were already pretty tall for their age and when they came into their power they hit their current height of six foot and they would still be growing. They hoped that they didn't end up seven foot or anything like that because that was just too tall. It would be no fun to hit their head off of everything and have to duck down too far all the time to do whatever they had planned. "Okay." Casper said with a small nod. He was happy she didn't stop him to clean out his eye, he wanted to get his task done and he would not stop until he got it done. He relied mostly on her to get to the sink, since he ended up just closing both his eyes.

He did not like walking around with being able to only see through one eye. It made his body feel like there was something wrong and thus made him use his power and cause his vision to sharpen even more. Jasper let out a breath when Beth assured him that he was not going to turn into bread. Casper could not help but to chuckle a little at that. "Did you really ask that, brother?" Casper asked. "Shut up, you got egg in your eye. Hope you turn into a chicken." Jasper quickly returned, but still kept doing his part. He then went to finish up Casper bit and added it to his bowel like Beth had told them too.

"Nope, we eat whatever the school cooks and a lot of snack." Casper confirmed when she asked about them not doing this sort of thing. They had never cooked, never had an older woman teach them how. All they had ever learned was the basics of speaking English and anything that would go into their performance for the circus. "Do you do this sort of thing a lot?" The brothers asked at the same time which might have sounded weird since they sounded the same and were in to different locations; one next to her, and the other behind her.

[Beth Young]

Guiding the twin over to the sink, she pressed her hand at the back of his neck to get him to bend forward. She nodded at their question. "Yeah, I've always enjoyed baking and cooking, and I spend a great deal of my time doing it," she said, smiling. Once the boy leaned forward, she turned on the tap water and waited for it to get a little warmer. She'd rather not have the poor boy's eye sting more by throwing ice water at it. That hardly sounded particularly comfortable. "Okay, the water is the right temperature. Now... Reach your hand out and cup your hand. Fill it with water and lean forward. Once your eye touches it, open it and blink several times into the water. Do this repeatedly until it stops hurting."

With that, Beth stepped away to give the boy the necessarily room to do his task. She turned towards the other brother, she smiled as she noticed that he'd finished his brother's task as well. She walked over to the cabinet and pulled out the other needed ingredients and started handing them over to the boy as she told him what to do with it. All the while, she made sure that the brother cleaning his eye was alright.

Once the cookie dough had been made, Beth cleaned the table and scattered flour over it. "Now, we need to take portions of the dough and make them nice and round." She reached for a plate to put them on before tossing them into the oven, which she'd already turned on. "Take a spoonful of dough, put it down on the table and use your hands to form it. Remember to clean your hands first though."

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Casper moved with her over to the sink, chuckling a little at the fact that he had to bend over, but it was nothing new. He was really tall for a sixteen year old and he was still growing so it was either the school was going to have to give him and his brother a room with taller things, or he was going to have to get used to bending over. Not like he was had a hard time with it, he and his brother were very, very flexible. "Why?" Jasper asked, because why would she do it? Was it fun? Why cook or bake when there were others to do it for you that you could just eat until there was nothing left?

"Okay." Casper responded as he did as he was told. They were no longer in the mood to act out at the moment, especially Casper who didn't want to end up blind or turn into his chicken. Of course he didn't believe a word his brother said on it, yeah...so didn't believe it. Hey, they were mutants and who knew what could affect them if they were not careful. Casper was careful with his eye, not wanting to go blind but he did do as he was told quickly so he didn't miss out what was going on next. Just using his sleeve to wipe his eyes because who had time to wipe with a paper towel or washcloth?

The siblings were soon standing next to one another and looking at Beth as she explained the next step. The brothers could not help but make a face because this was a lot of work going in to making cookies and they still had not gotten to eat them yet. They didn't even look like cookies, but it did smell pretty good. "Okay." The brothers said as they moved over to the sink to wash their hands. "I was tempted to just spit on my hands and call them washed." Jasper whispered to his brother, but it was loud enough that pretty much anyone could hear in the silent room since the water was not running yet.

"Behave." Casper said back to his brother as the two quickly washed their hands and moved back over to the dough. Doing as she said and taking a spoonful and making it into balls as she said. Jasper was so totally setting them on the tray to form out a certain shape. She didn't say how to put them after they were made and what if he wanted a cookie shaped like that. Casper meanwhile ended up trying to sneak eat one while he made them. Making one, tossing another in his mouth when he hoped Beth was not looking.

[Beth Young]

"Mmm," she said, chewing on the inside of her lip. "I enjoy it, but it's also a nice way for me to distract myself." She looked over at the boy. "Even social workers have their problems." She wanted the boys to realize that everyone in this world had something they needed to deal with, even those that came across as well put together and sane. Everyone had something, somewhere that bothered them and constantly poked and prodded at their mind. It all came down to actually dealing with said problems, rather than suppressing them. She supposed, she wasn't very good at that herself. It was much easier to help others, than it was helping yourself.

"Do you like cookies with bacteria?" she asked, slightly amused at the comment one of the boys had been making. Of course, she wasn't at all mad, and was glad the boys seemed to have calmed down. She didn't mind their jokes or comments, and though, yes, there was much work to this, they didn't seem like they were about to complain either, which was a very good sign. Maybe they'd come to actually enjoy this.

Looking over at the boys, Beth chuckled. "Be careful not to eat too much of the dough, otherwise you might get a tummy ache." She remembered she'd loved doing that herself when she was a kid. Part of the joy about making the cookies was eating the dough. It tasted heavenly, and part of her even thought that the batch tasted better than the actual cookies. Reaching for a package of chocolate, she started cutting them into small pieces and threw them into a bowl.

"Here, put these into the dough."

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The siblings listened to Beth as she explained that it was something she enjoyed and it was a good way to distract her. The brothers guess they could understand how cooking was distracting but do far it was only half helping with them. If she did not keep telling them what to do it was likely they would have just eaten all the dough or started to play with it. Their attention span was not really good with this sort of thing, but at least now they knew that they were not going to grow up to be cooks. They liked the idea of just eating food made for them over having to make it themselves, seemed like unnecessary work.

The brothers did wonder what their something was, so far it was just magic but there had to be something else. Right? "Does it make a difference in flavor?" Jasper asked; he was being serious. He knew that bacteria were in cheese, right? Or was he getting things confused. He was already glancing to his brother for an answer but Casper shrugged his shoulder since he was not really sure either. Casper froze when she had caught him, he thought he had been being super sneaky, and now he was regretting not trying to pull it off like some kind of magic trick. "Sorry." Casper apologized while Jasper tossed one into his mouth so it was fair.

When the chocolate came out the siblings got excited and it was a good thing she told them what to do because they were going to end up treating it as if it was their snack break from all the hard work for backing. They did glance at one another but did as she said, making sure that the dough had the chocolate mixed into it well and that everything was starting to look like pale chocolate chip cookies. "Thanks for doing this." Casper spoke up. "Yeah, not a lot of people take the time to do this sort of thing with us. Hell, the people we thought were our friends didn't even go to prom with us." Jasper spoke up in agreement with his bro.

[Beth Young]

"No," she replied with a sigh. It was obvious that these two took things far too literately. She supposed it wasn't all bad, though perhaps a little exhausting in the long run. For now though, Beth managed to keep her good mood, and she didn't really see the boys managing to change that anytime soon. She offered the boys a smile, nodding in the direction of the boy who apologized. After all, she was no nurse, so if they ate so much it made their stomachs hurting, she had to send them off to the school nurse.

Looking up when the boys as they spoke again, Beth's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "You're welcome," she continued, offering each of them a smile as she looked down at the dough. "It's my pleasure," she said, nodding. After all, she didn't mind being around the boys as long as they behaved. Thus far, she'd seen no signs pointing to that aggressive behavior she'd heard so much about, so she wondered if the boys were greedily misunderstood. "I'm sorry to hear that. Did they give you any reasons as to why not?" Maybe they had other friends to go with. Not that that was a reason to shut the boys out, but she was certain their friends had logical explanations, no?

After all, it was easy to judge from what you saw and your own feelings, without asking for the real reason behind it all. And even when you did, it wasn't always as easy to separate your own feelings with logic. She could hardly blame the boys though. They were still young.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

She said it didn't affect the flavor, so he didn't see the problem with that. Jasper didn't say anything of course because of the look that she had for a moment and the look he was getting from his brother. It most likely just involved the fact that spitting was gross or something and that it would have been rude to spit on someone’s food. So Jasper was just trying to think of how he would feel if someone else was making the cookies and had not washed their hands or basically spit in the cookies.

Jasper didn't like the idea of it so he was quick to make sure his hands were super clean and went about what Beth told them do. She accepted their apology and was even letting them know that they were welcome for what she was doing for them. They still didn't get why she was doing any of it but so far things had been going well and they were supposed to be getting cookies out of it. So, win-win. Then she was asking them why the people that the brother's thought they were the closest with had not asked them to prom. Sure the boys were a bit young, but they wanted to give it a try and yet they got no invite.

Jasper's boyfriend even won the crown and he didn't incite him and there was no way that Jas was going to be the one to ask. "My boyfriend didn't say, but I didn't ask." Jasper said as he muttered to himself, still working on the cookies. "As for the other friend that betrayed us, she went this boy that almost killed me and was all being super close with him. Bet she fu-...had sex with him even too." Casper said soon after his brother. The two of them muttering some more but they kept to their work to keep themselves focused.

[Beth Young]

Beth remained silent as the two boys talked. She nodded slowly. "Ah," she said, offering both of the boys a smile. "Well, you won't find out unless you ask your boyfriend," she pointed out before turning towards the other boy. "Clearly, your issue is not with your friend going with the boy, but with the boy himself. You can't fault her for having friends you don't like." She smiled further and shook her head. "People have the freedom to make their own choices for a reason, and if she wants to be friends with this person, you should rather try supporting her than telling her who she can't or can be with. That is not your decision to make. It's hers. And worst come to worst, you might even lose her if you try to decide for her."

Beth brushed her hair out of her face as she turned back to the cookies. She formed a few of them into flat balls and put them onto the platter. It was clear that these boys had some abandonment issues on top of everything else. Clearly, they hadn't had a whole lot of people stick around for long.

"What your friend does, such as for example getting intimate with others is also her decision to make. Whether or not she did is none of your business, and I'm not saying this to be mean, but people are capable of making their own choices, even if you guys don't agree with them. How would you feel if your friend told you that you couldn't hang out with someone? Would you listen?"

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

“I know but…it’s stupid. I should not even care that he didn’t invite me. Like it’s an open relationship so maybe he wanted to go with some guy he likes on the side.” Jasper half muttered as he just shrugged his shoulders on the matter. Normally he would not have cared but he and his brother had started to care deeply for certain people. Franck was one of them so it just felt like he was betrayed by the boy in some way when he was not choosing to do something important with him. Prom was important, right? The brothers had heard stories about it but never actually gone to a dance before.

Perhaps Franck didn’t want to take them because they were Sophomores and it was for Juniors and Seniors. Franck would be a college student soon enough too and who knew if he would still want to hang around the younger boys then. Yes, the siblings would soon be Juniors but they were still behind Franck and younger then him so who knew how long he would be fine with hanging out those younger and less mature then him. “People are stupid and don’t know how to make the right choices if we leave them to decide alone.” Jasper quickly spoke up before looking away and muttering under his breath. “…we are trying but…she is going to pick him over us. No one wants us in the end. We are only good for a certain time to people.” Casper spoke up.

That was how the siblings honestly felt about the matter deep down. After all, they were orphans; no one wanted them until the circus came. Yes, that had become their family but the brothers still could not help but to feel that even then they were being used and that if they didn’t look and have the talents that they did when they were young they likely would have never been adopted. The brothers listened to her words and thought on them. “Maybe.” The both said as they gave a small nod. “Like, if it was someone that had really hurt them and they didn’t want us to…then we probably would do it at least until they calmed down over it or something.” Casper tried to explain.

“Like…we are trying to change, but what’s the point of changing if there is no one to change for or who will stick with you? My brother is the only one who has remained by me so…as long as I got him I don’t need anyone else.” Jasper said bitterly as he finished up what he was doing with the cookies before he moved to go sit down in a seat to calm down a little. Casper kept helping Beth finish the cookies so they could get to the whole cooking and eating part sooner.

[Beth Young]

"Or maybe you should tell him how you feel, though, then its to be expected that you do the same thing." After all, it wouldn't be fair to ask the other boy to stick to one person, whereas one of the twins had free reigns. She supposed the boys would figure it out eventually though. Being young was all about gaining experience by failing and learning. They would grow eventually and learn from everything they did and said. Beth wasn't overly worried.

"Just because you don't agree with their choices, it does not make them stupid." Beth's head shook. "Besides, being young is all about learning from your mistakes - and everyone have the right to make mistakes. Even you." She offered both of the boys a warm smile. They would learn in time. Of that, she was sure. "Maybe it's because you're too demanding and controlling," she offered. "No one likes to be bossed around. And that's part of life, no? You can't expect everything to go your way, but if you really want this girl - or want her to rethink her choices, I suggest you tell her how you feel without making it sound like you're giving her an ultimatum." She knew that it wasn't nearly that simple. If this girl wanted to be with someone else, well... "Or maybe it's time you move forward."

"And I'm sure that there is people out there that do want you."

Issuing a sigh, Beth's head shook. "You're not supposed to change for others. You have to do want to do it for yourself. Changing for others is not the way to go and at the end of the day, it will simply make you miserable."

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

"Oh, he does tell us how he feels. Or at least he is bad at hiding it. His name is Franck, empath French boy." Jasper informed her. He figured since they were talking to her in the manner that they didn't have to worry about her spreading things around or telling Franck anything. Not that they were saying anything that they would not say to his face. They just choose not to bring up the whole prom thing or how they felt for their own reasons. "Plus, we have one another to tell things to, why tell them?" Casper pointed out and asked. The siblings had always talked to one another and that worked out just fine.

Yet, now that he asked the question he kind of figured the answer out already. A person could not know something was wrong if they never said anything, but did anyone even actually care what they felt? It didn't feel like it, besides what Beth was doing on some small level. Her point about people's choices not matching up theirs, not being stupid, sounded stupid to the siblings. Of course if someone didn't share their view it was a stupid view. Obviously their view was better because there was two of them vs one, so majority rules and all that stuff. The next bit did make since and made her pervious statement sound a little less stupid to them, but they didn't say anything and just grumbled. She was right, they were wrong, and they didn't really like it too much but were dealing with it.

"We would not be bossy if they would just get it. Toys don't understand and you need to control them in order for things to go as you desire." Jasper pointed out, still in a huff. He sat down still, not moving to keep himself calmed down. He could not help but to hate people on a small level, especially when he felt like they were just toys because they didn't get it. "She is going to pick him over us. People always pick others over us." Casper repeated, muttered under his breath after Beth's words about telling the girl and making it sound like there was no ultimatum. What was that? "What’s an ultimatum?" The brothers asked in unison as they looked at her. They had a guess, but they were not one hundred percent sure.

The looked at her, not saying anything when she spoke about that there were people out there that did want them. So far that had yet to be proven. They were only desired when they wow the crowd, put on a show, and in general were useful. How could they be useful at this school? How could they be useful to the people they bothered at the school? They didn't understand. They listened to her next words as they both sat on the couch not, just sitting there and trying to process and understand it all. "I don't get it." Jasper said as he let out a heavy sigh and slouched on the couch. Too many words, to many things that made sense but didn't make sense. If they didn't change for other, then how would people like them?

They didn't want to change but they had to...right? But she said it would make them miserable, they were miserable right now. "The cookies ready yet?" Casper spoke up, wanting a sort of change in subject and to eat something even more now.

[Beth Young]

"They're not toys," she said sternly, brows furrowing. "People are not possessions. They are free to make their own choices, even if we sometimes don't want them to. We have no right to control them, as they have no right to control us." She sighed slightly, a wary expression glazing over her face. She looked at the boys for a moment, before issuing a sigh and continuing. "How would you feel if there was someone who, in the same way you did, treated you like a puppet they can do whatever they please with?" She wondered briefly if the boys would at all mind, though, from her experiences, those who liked to control, rarely liked others controlling them.

"If people keep picking others over you, maybe it's because of the way you constantly try forcing their hand." She looked over at the brothers again, issuing another sigh, though her stern expression softened slightly. "An ultimatum is when you force someone to pick between two things, and if they pick the one not in your advantage, they cut all ties - more or less." She shrugged lightly.

The conversation was turned and shone its light on the cookies then and Beth nodded. She rose to her feet and carried the plates over to the oven. Opening it, she put one of them inside while resting the other on top of the oven. She closed the door and ran her fingers through her hair. "They need to be in the oven for thirteen minutes or so," she said, looking over her shoulder at the boys.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The brothers went silent as she Beth spoke up about people not being toys, the stern voice making them look down. The siblings were never bothered when they made other kids and what have you upset, but when an adult was upset with them they could not help but feel a little weird. As if they regretted what they had said or did and didn't want to be punished. They didn't say anything as she pointed out that people were not possessions and that they were free to make their own choices even if they didn't want them to. They didn't say anything still as she looked at them as their eyes went down to the ground or at one another as she went on after taking a breath.

Her question was one they had been asked before and their answer still had not changed since they last time they were asked it. "That's why we make them our toys first." Jasper spoke up. "That way we are the ones in control and they are not." Casper added with Jasper nodding head in agreement. This world was clearly a use or be used world and they would rather be the ones using then the ones used. They had felt used by Alex and Franck on some level and that was why they were upset because they felt like they were the toys now and not the other way around.

They didn't feel any better as she pointed out why people probably picked others over them. How were they to get better if they didn't know how or the person that left them didn't tell them anything? She explained what the world was and they understood but also had not realized that it was something that was causing a problem for those they were dealing with. This was so hard. The siblings just nodded their heads as Beth took care for the cookies and informed them that they still had to wait a little. It was during that wait that the siblings started to cry, tears just following form their eyes but they didn't move from where they were. They didn't say anything, tears just feel from their eyes and they sniffled a little.

[Beth Young]

"Why is being in control so important for you?" she asked. She decided that this approach, instead of telling them that it was wrong to force their own beliefs on other people might be a lot easier and productive. If she could get to the root of the problem, then maybe, just maybe, it would be a lot easier for her to help them. Now, she could easily enough understand wanting to be in control of every situation - or person, but it wasn't healthy. Life couldn't be controlled. Life happened. It was as a simple as that. Nothing that ever happened, be it something simple as the way someone reacted or an accident - it was out of anyone's control.

You couldn't exactly know everything that happened - all the time. It was impossible.

When she saw the tears streaming down the boys' faces, Beth immediately rose to her feet and walked over to them. Despite the boys being much taller than herself, she still put an arm on both their shoulders and squeezed them, hoping to lend some comfort to them, although she suspected that crying didn't come easy for them and maybe they simply needed a good cry and to have someone who didn't want to use or control them to comfort them as best as she could.

She could only hope that they'd actually accept her comfort and words instead of running off somewhere.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Why did they need to be in control? They just did. The brothers didn't even have to think about how to answer and it was likely why they were both saying it together, practically their minds becoming one in that moment. "Because if we are not in control, someone else is. When someone else is in control over you, you can't do anything to stop them from hurting you. When you are in control, you can stop it all. You know what they are going to do and can change it to work out for you. You won't be left alone, won't be forgotten, won't be used, won’t be hated, won't be loved, or anything unless that is what you want." The brothers told her, every word coming out of both their mouths at once and on time with one another.

It had happened. The one side effect that they had to deal with that didn't bother them too much had not just occurred. They had mind melded, they were one person now. No longer Casper and Jasper but CJ, Ghost Boys, or Emory’s. Names that were meant for when they were together in what they did and now they were one. That was why they bother were crying at the same time instead of it being one first and then the other. They both were upset, the tears falling from both eyes at almost the same rate as the siblings pretty much lost control over their emotion.

When they felt any emotion, it was stronger than normal because of the chemicals that dumped into their body. So when they were sad, they were pretty much depressed and didn’t want to go one. They wanted it to end, to stop, and to just not feel like this anymore. The feeling got mixed in with confusion however when they felt arms going around their shoulders. Yes, they were still pretty tall even when sitting down but Beth had been able to reach that much. They could feel here there, even as they felt like they were just one person. "Why...why do you comfort us?" the brothers asked at the same time as they could not help but to lift one arm each to wrap around her back.