Interim Ep2 - 'Down on the Farm'

[Jaunt]

Light peeked from the loose cracks between the old planks of the Bannon farm's barn.  The sound of classic rock faintly echoed and escaped with the light as the constant rattling and jostling of tools rubbing on tools and being tossed back into their metal boxes could be heard in the quiet Shelly, Montana air.  Jason sat under his car, looking up underneath it and tapped one foot rhythmically to the beat of Kenny Wayne Shepard's Blue on Black.

On the work bench not far away Devin had all the parts sorted and in the (rough) order they weer going to install them in.  It wasn't difficult work, but everything Devin knew about fixing cars came from watching Orange County Choppers, and they worked on motorcycles if that told tells you anything.  However, no task was impossible these days with YouTube and a sociopath that had a nine thousand I.Q..  To his right lay a stack of manuals pertaining to the 1970 Charger that Jason had seemingly been living under for the last several days.

"You read all these?"  Devin asked over the music.

"Those?"  Jason pointed at the large stack in the corner.  "Yes.  That's how I made it this far."

"No, these."  He pointed to the one's on the work bench.

"Today, yeah."  He nodded.  "Those cover all of what's on the bench."

Devin just shook his head.  He couldn't grasp having a brain that big that he could stuff three or more books in it a day and still remain awake.  "Dude, I don't know how you do that.  I fall asleep reading texts."

"It's true, he does."  Marissa strode in to finish her brother's sentence with one arm balancing two pizzas and the other lugging a 12 pack of coke.  "C'mon losers, eat up."

Bannon stood up and shook his head, grinning.  "See, for all I have going on up here," he motioned to his brain.  "I can not for the life of me figure out how you two do that."

"Do what?" Marissa asked innocently as she slid the boxes onto a table where the radio was.

"Finish each others sentences or that 'know what the conversation is' trick."  He approached the table and slid open a box.  The scent of cheese and pepperoni was intoxicating and just what each of the hungry teens needed.

"We're psychic."  She smiled, as she wrangled a stray piece of melted cheese and dropped between her perfectly shaded lips.  She shot him an antagonizing wink.

Devin shook his head.  "C'mon, between the weirdness we're dealing with now, the last thing I have the room in my mind to believe is magic or spells.  You nerds can have that shit," he gave Marissa look that folded her in with 'them' to which she flipped him off.  "I don't know about the cloud or the cephalogina or how it did it or what happened, but let's not buy into the whole whack job circles of people moving things with their mind or reading thoughts or shooting fire from their dick."

Mari nodded at the car while she selected a few slices for herself.  "Ugh, you make me so fat, but I love you.  See this is where women get conditioned for abusive relationships.  We know the pizza is horrible for us, but they make is so damn delicious that we keep eating it knowing it'll destroy us from the inside.  So, you two get her working yet?"

[Bannon]

"Engine is cleaned and installed, lines are all connected.  Gearbox is in.  Transmission was finished a few minutes ago.  I'm just figuring out the turbocharger mounting."  Jason nodded at the car.  Devin wiped his hands on a rag, then tossed it to Jase to do likewise before grabbing a slice of pizza and taking a bite.  Jason was clad in fatigue pants and a wife-beater tee that was as oil-stained as his bare arms and, for that matter, his face.  Marissa wrinkled her nose at him and gestured.

"You've got car blood all over you."  she smirked.

"See, that's your special talent."  Jase deadpanned.  "Spotting fashion faux pas."  Devin snerked around a mouthful of pizza as Jase grabbed a slice, devouring half of it in one bite by folding it over lengthways and tilting his head back, chewing as he regarded the parts on the bench.  Marissa frowned.

"Hey, take your time.  Car isn't going anywhere." she admonitioned.  Devin, still chewing, popped the tab on a Coke and took a swig to help clear his mouth.

"Don't even start."  he grinned.  "Dude's an obsessive or some shit."  He chuckled as Jase's lips turned up in that quick amused smile, his gaze still considering the parts, visualising them slotting into place in a slow-mo reverse-explosion.  Or something like that, the twins imagined.

"There is more weirdness."  Jase mentioned, still looking at the bench, reaching for a Coke which Devin passed to him.  Bannon seemed hesitant for a moment, then went ahead anyway.  "Charlie mentioned tentacled ones on the night of the party - before you mentioned the Asteroida-"

"The what now?"  Both twins said in unison.

"Starfish."  Bannon went on, his attention finally away from the engine parts and on his friends.  "It's not a cephalopod, despite the cool name of cephalogina."  He smiled at Devin.  "It looks like a large starfish.  I'm calling it Asteroidae Vagina Devin.  'Devin's Vagina-Starfish.'"

That made Marissa spit-take her Coke and Devin cough on his pizza, shaking his head before swallowing and protesting.

"No way.  No names starting with 'Devin's Vagina'-anything"  The male Jauntsen pointed a finger at Jase sternly.  "Or I swear to god, there will be something you fear and I will find it, Rain Man.  And you."  He pointed at Mari, awash in a sea of giggling.  "Not one word to the other nerds at those nerd conferences you sneak off to."

"C'mon, Deej.  Immortality next to a vagina?  It's practically your life goal."  Marissa laughed.

"So what was that about Charlie?!"  Devin demanded, steering the conversation on past the subject.  

"He was stoned, but weed does not give oracular powers.  At least, mine doesn't."  Jason shrugged, still smiling a little.  "He was speaking obliquely, but I caught that reference.  He mentioned tentacled ones before you or Cass ever did.  Said some other things too."

"Okay.  Creepy, but maybe a-  No."  Marissa finished her own thought.  "Coincidence is a dangerous logical fallacy.  With all the other weird stuff, it would be dumb to pass one thing off as 'eh, who cares'.  Right?"  she asked Jason, who nodded as he took another slice of pizza.

"Either of you noticed anything odd, or off?  Weird thoughts, emotions, sensory impressions...  Anything, however small or seemingly trivial?"  he asked.  "It's a tough call, I know.  But something is going on and it might help us to build a pattern."

[Jaunt]

"I kinda thought about Lona in a bikini the other day," Devin shrugged.  "Passing thought, purely out of curiosity.  That was pretty weird."  He shuddered.

Marissa back handed his arm.  "She's not ugly, ass.  She just doesn't take pride in her appearance.  Garbage in, garbage out."  She shrugged.  "Ninety percent of the problems the Nerd Herd has, they've brought on themselves, but that doesn't make her ugly."

"She looks like a guy," he protested, taking a drink of his coke.

"Aww," Marissa pouted at him.  "It's okay, you will too one day when the Puberty Fairy finally visists you."

Devin and Jason both laughed.  Devin nodded his head while he chewed the bite of pizza he had just taken as she was insulting him.  When he finally managed to swallow his grin grew wide and he wheezed out, "Nice."

Thank, you."  She bowed, then picked at her pizza slice a bit.  Her face grew serious.  "Tell him, Deej.  What you told me."

"What?"  Devin looked confused for the briefest of moments before the light went off in his head.  "What?  No, hell, no.  He doesn't need to know."

"Know what?"  Jason asked, standing up straight as the twins argued.  He, like most others didn't like it when people kept secrets from him.

"My brother, and I use that turn loosely, has a," she shrugged.  "I don't know a something.  A talent, a gift.  Always has.  Distance, angles, trajectory, speed, those kinds of things.  Lately-"

"-it's been on 11."  Devin finally admitted.  "I know people think I'm a stupid guy, but if you laser line from the car to the pizza box corner... it's thirteen feet, three inches, rounded down."

"You can eyeball that?" Jason asked curiously.

"Check it if you want," Devin shrugged.  "It's gotten worse.  I seem to know where everything is.  I don't stub my toe in the dark, I can plot a course from the the logging camp to the trailer in the dark-"

"So?"  Jason said not sure where he was going with that last one.

"And walk it, blindfolded." He amended.  "Like I'm just on autopilot bro, it's weird."

Marissa nodded.  "It's true, we tested it the other night.  Blindfold plus a pillow case, no cheating, I swear to God.  Every rock, log and low hanging branch he avoided them all.  It's like him and Cass huffed some weird radiation or something.  You think she can do it too?"

[Bannon]

"Spatial hyperacuity."  Jason mused around a mouthful of pizza.  "Fascinating.  And I don't know about Cass, but there's some other weirdness from members of the Fellowship."

"You keep calling it that.  And Sean hates it."  Marissa smirked.  "What gives?"

"Sean doesn't like Tolkien much."  Jase shrugged with a smile.  "Which is odd for a guy that gamemasters Dungeons and Dragons.  And I think it's fun to annoy him about little things like that.  But as to weirdness..."  He paused, then went on.  "I've noticed something too.  In myself."

"What?"

"Similar to yours, only without the same spatial accuracy, perhaps?  I am aware of everything in this barn as though I am touching it, if I concentrate.  And..."

"...And...?"  The twins chorused.  Sighing, Jase reached out a hand as though grasping something.  His eyes closed, and he made a motion as though picking something up.  For a moment nothing happened, and his brow furrowed in concentration.

There was a muted 'clink' from the table.  Two pairs of eyes swiveled down.

A wrench was slowly moving, lifting from the bench.  It hovered up to eye level, then turned end over end in a slow spin before stopping dead.  Bannon's eyes opened, regarding the other two calmly as the wrench hung as though suspended by a thread.

"I was working on the car a few days ago.  I reached for a socket wrench I knew was there, but it was out of my immediate grasp.  I felt it as though my hand was closing around it and I picked it up, but when I brought my hand to the engine the tool was not there.  It was floating about five feet away.  It was... surprising.  To say the least."

Devin stared at him, then the wrench.  Marissa stared at the wrench, then at Jason.  Moving in tandem, the two siblings waved hands around the floating tool, finding a lack of lines, threads, wires or invisible pixies that might explain what they were seeing.  Jason shrugged, lowering his hand.  The tool stayed floating.

"It's easier if I gesture, but that might be a magic feather." he said.  "Something to help me visualise, perhaps."  Slowly, his hand still at his side, the wrench turned in the air and began to circle at a low speed.

[Marissa Jauntsen]

"Duuuuuude," Devin's eyes were locked on the wrench.  "This is freaky.  I jinked us.  I shouldn't have said a damn thing.  This is messed up.  What is that?  Telegenetics?"

"Telekinesis," Marissa side eyed her brother.  "Dumbass."

"Eat me, ho."  He flipped her off.  "I'm sorry if I'm not up on all nerd terminology."

"So, Jason, what does this mean?  Could the others be experiencing the same thing?"  She stood up and folded her arms, looking puzzled at the wrench.  "For example, I feel fine.  So strangeness going on with me what so ever.  Are you two, I don't know, contagious?"

[Bannon]

"Are you sure there's no strangeness?"  Jason asked with a lifted brow.  "I mean, here you are hanging out with a low-tech genetic reject.  And enjoying yourself."

"Don't be a smartass!"  Marissa snapped as Devin snickered.  She took a deep breath, then smiled a little at him.  "I'm not averse to admitting that you gave a very good show that misdirected me from the truth.  I can't be blamed for not wanting to scratch beneath the surly slouching surface - I might have caught something."

"You did do a pretty good down-low act."  Devin agreed, taking a swallow of Coke and gesturing at the circling wrench.  "Dude, you done playing?  It's freaky."  Jase smiled, the wrench dropping back slowly to rest on the worktable, then he grabbed another slice of pizza.

"Other than me and Charlie - and now you, nothing has come to light yet."  He admitted, nodding to Devin as he took a bite.  Chewing and swallowing, he washed it down with a swig from his can and considered Marissa with a direct, penetrating stare that made her shift her weight from one foot to the other.

"If you've not noticed anything, that presents several possibilities."  he mused.  "Either your 'gift', let's call it, is so low-key that you don't notice it - or it's highly dependent on circumstance and the right one hasn't come up - or..."

"Or I don't have one."  Marissa finished, not sure whether she was relieved or disappointed.  "Typical.  The social and mental retard here get to join the X-Men, and I'm a benchwarmer."  Devin flipped her off with a smirk, which she mirrored as she raised her own finger in return.

"Don't give up just yet."  Jason suggested as he picked up a couple of parts from the bench and walked back over to the car.  Sliding underneath, he continued talking as they heard metal clinking.  "Devin and I might be the early bloomers.  Or perhaps, like us, the others have yet to confess their strangeness."

"Or both."  Devin nodded.  "Little column A, little column B.  Hey..."  an idea came to him.  "It's not a totally new thing, though is it?  Like I was always good at figuring speed and distance.  Perhaps people's schticks are related to stuff they can already do, but more so?  Or maybe to what they are deep inside?"  Jason stopped tinkering under the car, the pause stretching out for a bit.

"That's an attractive theory."  he said at length, resuming what he was doing.  "Perhaps as things develop we will get a clearer pattern emerging."  He peered out from under the car, smiling at Marissa.  "Perhaps you just being yourself - and inspiring others to do likewise - is your superpower."

[Jaunt]

"That's not a super power, Jason," She cocked her head to the side.  "That's just not suffering from the effects of social retardation.  Devin and I are just better at deflecting all our bad shit than you guys are.  All you nerds ever seem to do is whine and bitch-"

"-and piss and moan," Devin rolled his eyes.  "It's all tears and hissy fits and tantrums.  Our life at home sucks too, no more than a dead parent, a dead beat dad or a drunk uncle or living with a tit disease.  Shit, if I had tits I'd play with them all the time!  But it's-"

"-always so fucking bad with you guys.  You get mopey, you stay mopey, and you bring everyone else along for the ride so they can all give you the attention you're obviously all so desperate for."  Marissa thrust out her arms as if presenting a revelation to her audience.

"See, M.J. and I feel great and we only feel better the more we mess with you guys.  The better we feel the happier and perkier we are, and you wanna stay mad at us, but you can't because we're in such a great mood from bringing you down that you're by proxy made to feel better because-"

"-happiness is infectious.  So the shittier we are to everyone else, the happier everyone is."  Marissa shrugged in victory.

"Flawless." They said in unison and high five'd each other.

"It might seem shitty to mess with others, but it's one step higher than the nerd herd.  At least we're actively trying to be happy despite all the negative shit we've got going on."  Devin slammed the rest of his Coke.  "Like I told Sean, we don't mess with you because how you guys are, we've messed with you because you've let us.  Lilly stands up for herself, Sara well, I'm not suicidal.  All they have is poorly developed comebacks that are meant to strike at our egos but it'll never work because we're totally okay with who we are.  They seem trapped in this limbo 'Woe is me, life is no fun'.  We're teenagers, man!  We should be having unprotected sex, drinking copious amounts of booze, trying all kinds of drugs and passing around our friends to see which ones fit our sexual kinks and which ones don't like to be tied with saran wrap and left in the basement."

Marissa thumbed in her brothers direction.  "This is why our mom doesn't let him date."

"I found her, she was mine!" He defended his last statement with a vigorous thrusting of his finger in his sister's direction.  "Besides the nursing home was happy for the time so they could finally change her linens."  Marissa stifled a snicker with a pursed smiled that Jason locked away in his memory.  "The point is: The nerd is lame because life is too short to be so damn boring and blah all the time.  Lighten the hell up, people."

[Bannon]

He chuckled from under the car at the pair of them, plainly entertained.

"You realise that there were a number of severe logical inconsistencies in that?"  he observed, holding out a hand with three fingers on display.  Devin looked at the workbench, grabbed a couple of parts and dropped them into his hand before Jase rolled back under again.

"Do tell?"  Marissa popped open another can of Coke and relaxed against the bench.

"For one thing - unf - you never messed with me.  I worked very hard at not being on anyone's radar except as a source of drugs.  Nobody messes with the source of drugs.  Even the vaunted Jauntsens."  The click of a socket wrench ratcheting came from underneath the Charger.  "Two, I was never miserable.  I also never crave attention or need validation - though I admit I do find it pleasant, like your reactions to my hothouse."

"We were using a collective 'you'."  Marissa rolled her eyes as she walked over and kicked his foot.  "Obviously.  Meaning the whole of the hick school in general and the emo-neurotic nerd herd in particular.  You-"  she nudged his foot again "-are the abnormality.  You freak."

"But I also understand your point of view."  Jase said calmly.  "People do spend an awful lot of time agonising over trivia.  I think the weird stuff at the party and since then is giving us all perspective, clearing away the self-indulgence and injecting some clarity."

"Wait, what do you mean 'us all'?" Devin said with a frown.

"Simply that there are more important matters than Sean's breasts, things that override Lilly's drive to be a good upstanding citizen..."  he rolled out from under the Charger again and smiled faintly at the two of them.  "...More worthy uses of one's energies than being royalty sitting on thrones of empty vanity."  

"And better uses of one's energies than working extra hard to be the human version of fog?"  Marissa shot back.  Jason just nodded as he got to his feet, cleaning off his hands with a rag again.

"Yes.  I hid myself because I felt that if I didn't, people would judge based on partial understanding.  It took certain people to make me see that perhaps my worry was unjustified."  he said with a smile, peering over the engine intently. "So I plan to, as you suggest, have fun with my youth.  To be happy."  He grinned lopsidedly as he lowered the hood.  "Though I'm very particular about the quality of the booze, drugs and unprotected sex I plan on having.  I'll never be able to forget it, after all.  Imagine recalling every bad encounter perfectly."

As the two Jauntsens allowed their imaginations to dwell on that horrifying possibility, Jase clambered into the driver's seat and turned the engine over.  With a faint cough, then a roar the engine caught, the powerful V8 filling the small barn with it's growl.  Both the twins could plainly see Jason's grin light up his oil-smudged face as he revved the engine twice, then let it idle for a minute or two before killing it, getting out and coming back around to the front of the car.

"Sounds good."   he nodded, still smiling like a kid at Christmas.  "A bit more tweaking to be sure and we can go for a road test."

[Marissa Jauntsen]

Marissa folded her arms and rolled her eyes.  "What is it with you boys and your toys?"

Devin nodded his head while his arms were folded.  He closed his eyes and listened to the roar of the engine, the timing... was off.  He motioned for Jason to cut the engine by making a slashing motion at his neck.  "No different than you girls and your toys.  Except I doubt he can fit that in his top drawer."  He chuckled.

Marissa punched him in the arm.  "Ew, you're so gross, Ass Clown.  Capped.  Proper name."

Devin laughed and rubbed his arm.  "Timing is off."

"I didn't hear it," Jason shook his head.

"Sensed it.  The belt has to move a proper amount of distance for the timing to be accurate," he spun his fingers over and over simulating the belt.  "It's not.  It'll be a bitch, but we want her to run right, or what's the point, right?"

"Truth."  Jason said as he exited the car and popped the hood again.  "That's a handy gift."

"Well, I just drive them really fast," Devin smirked.  "I know shit about fixing them, figured I might as well do something to help."

"So, what are you over compensating for that you need this car specifically," Marissa's twisted grin locked on Jason as she leaned against the table.  "Oh, and for the record we were not sitting on empty thrones of vanity.  We earned those thrones by decimating the wills and self-esteem of those weaker than us.  It was a fair conquering."

"I'd agree, the Shellians did make it pretty easy."  Devin nodded and smiled as he brought the light over to shine it down under the hood.  "Was fun too.  The last thing I think Shelly needs is for us to get bored again."

[Bannon]

"A man needs a car."  Jase said in a passable imitation - very passable - of Jaqen H'Ghar, the Faceless Man.  Devin grunted in agreement, nodding as Jase leaned over and examined the belt and timing gears carefully.  Marissa rolled her eyes, but smiled at the enigmatic tone and inflection despite herself, whilst storing away the fact that if she ever wanted someone to die 'accidentally' - not that she would of course - but if...

"And I never said it wasn't a fair conquest.  I don't fault you for taking what you wanted."  Jase said offhandedly as he leaned in and started making adjustments.  The twins shared a look, arching their brows.  "It was there, it was easy.  Even I saw how easy it could be, and I do not have your social acumen.  For a long while, I just didn't understand why you did it - what you gained from it.  Now, I think I do."

"By 'social acumen' you mean stunning looks and fashion sense."  Marissa said with a small grin, eyeing Jase's snake-lean torso in the white sleeveless tee as he worked on the engine.  Not as cut as her brother, but there was not much in the way of spare fat or loose muscle on him at all.  A runner, tireless grace and economy.

"You mean suave laid-back cool."  Devin suggested.  "I dunno, since you stopped slouching around pretending you were about to shoot up the school, you could probably make the cut.  I mean, considering your drawbacks." he snarked.  "Plus you got that whole 'hidden depths' thing.  Chicks dig hidden depths."

"Yes, Deej.  But not hidden basement sex dungeons."  Marissa said in a tone that suggested world-weariness.  "That's not what hidden depths means.  And you - If you don't blame or think badly of us for doing what we do, what's with the 'throne of empty vanity' line?"

"I was trying something out."  Jase said as he made a further adjustment at Devin's prompting, following the pointing finger.  "You like to prick people to see how they react.  I thought I'd try it."  He glanced at Devin, who studied the work and nodded thoughtfully.  "Alright, stay here and listen and I'll start her up again?" he asked, getting a nod.  Marissa stared at him as he went back around the car, pausing to meet her gaze with a faint smile.

"I realised I didn't really answer your question."  he remarked, patting the roof of the Charger.  "I don't need this car, but I like it.  I like the image, the attitude it presents.  Plus, it's beautiful.  I've come to like attitude and beauty."  he said with a faint grin before ducking back into the drivers seat.  He started up the engine again, letting it run as Devin closed his eyes and listened.  At Devin's affirmative nod, Jase killed it once more.

"Sweet and sure."  Devin said as Jase came back to the front of the car.  He offered the lanky boy a high-five, getting the response this time without even slight hesitation.  "I think she's ready for the turbo now - hey, I get to test drive too, right?"

"Sure."  Jase said with a slight chuckle as he picked up the turbocharger assembly from the bench.  "Going to need you to get your hands dirty holding this in place though."

"Shibby."  Devin grinned.  "Show me where, senpai."  Despite her professed disdain, Marissa came over to watch as Devin placed and held the part, Jase directing him before starting to tighten the turbocharger into place.

"I hope I don't need to get my hands dirty to play with your toys too."  she inquired, lips curving in a smile.  "Or are you guys going to want alone-time, Brokeback Mountain style?"

"Eat a dick, MJ."  Devin tried not to laugh.  "You can't crack wise like that when I'm trying to hold this thing straight.  Hey Jase - I know she's a pain but if we don't let my sister play she'll tell mom and then I'll get no dessert.  Whaddya say?"  The other boy pretended to mull it over.

"I think it's fair."  Jason deadpanned as he slid under the car once more, getting the fittings underneath lined up.  "After all, she did bring pizza and Coke."