Adventures at Foxington's

Jasper was clicking his teeth, absentmindedly tapping away to some imagined rhythm. The class left him slightly restless, especially with how little he slept last night. Not only was this class itself boring, but the work they were given was equally droll. A worksheet as a lame excuse for teaching.

Nevertheless, he did the work. It was easy enough. Breeze through the questions, turn it in, and be happy that he’d have less homework. Plus, he had to make sure he was ahead enough to attend the event his family was going to. Although dealing with annoying customs and pleasantries at a social event wasn’t exactly his definition of fun, he had to show up if he wanted to be known.

Still, the noble life wasn’t everything. The boy sitting next to him was proof of that. Isadore Meredeth. It was good to have a friend you could be completely at ease with. None of this constant worrying about which face you’d be showing, whether the move you were making would bring any disrespect or not.

Noble life wasn’t all bad, Jasper most certainly wouldn’t say that. And he didn’t think that the noble life was really that corrupt. But it most certainly was not a place to let your guard down, not even for a moment. Still, the rush he got when he realized his power, his ability to be a commanding voice atop businesses and politic--that rush was what Jasper loved of the world of nobility.

And it was perhaps why Jasper was so fantastic at being a cutthroat noble.

But, there was an impossible to move limit on his ability to sleuth his way through the rich and powerful and firmly supplant himself at the top. And it was his dearest friend, Isadore. The thing was, Jasper wouldn’t have it any other way. He refused to let Isadore just be a political pawn for the Stanlyn family. Isadore was his friend, his confidant, and his way to express and live out his more immature and human side. And there was no way in hell Jasper would leave Isadore behind to go to the top. If Jasper went, Isadore would follow.

Speaking of Isadore, it was he who jarred Jasper from his daydreams. “Jasper,” came the spoken nudge.

Jasper turned his head and raised a brow. “Yeah?” Usually Isadore would be diligent in his work. Which meant he had to be worried about something.

“What’d you get for number nineteen?” Isadore asked before stumbling into an explanation. “I’m having a bit of a, uh, brain fart.”

Jasper could see that Isadore was not having a brain fart. And if he was, then that was only because of something else. But Jasper could also see that Isadore maybe didn’t want to talk about it. At the very least, he could respect his friend.

”Usually you’re not one to complain about worksheets,” he said, with a bit of a grin on his face. ”The answer’s D.” A hint of worry briefly showed through his facade of friendly teasing; the fatigue was catching up to him.

“Thanks,” came Isadore’s response, along with a nervous laugh. “Are you… sure you’re okay?”

Jasper gave a sort of odd look at his friend. “Well, I’m just as okay as the last time you asked that, and I’ll probably be just as okay the next time you ask that, in about five minutes. I’m tired and really would like to be at home resting, but instead I’m here.”

It wasn’t like Isadore to be this jittery. Yes, he was a kind of quiet individual that was really bad at hiding his concern and affection, and was easy to see through for Jasper, but usually he be this annoying. Did he turn into a lost pet or something?

Well, that is how we found him… Jasper noted. The only guess he could come up with was that Isadore was afraid he would lose his new family. And Jasper really couldn’t figure out why Isadore would be thinking that.

Interrupted by the papers flying, Jasper had no more time to contemplate what was bothering Isadore. Instead, he was given a much more irritating gift: one of the students in the class decided to badmouth his friend.

“That’s right, Meredeth, clean up like a good servant.”

Jasper’s hand clenched. It was quite frustrating, having to deal with assholes and idiots who judged Isadore based on his deceased family. Of course, this resulted from the fact that the only relationship that would happen at this school would be political alliances and ways to make your presence known.

At least, for the more important families like the Stanlyns. Sometimes, he really did envy those kids who were able to goof off without it becoming a big deal. Because that way, he could stand up and give that asshole a proper verbal beating. But, alas. He didn’t want to have to deal with making a scene.

Jasper stood up and turned around. He knew exactly who it was that said it: Christopher Galle. They weren’t a hugely important family, being a newer family, but they were quite wealthy. They made their money in the post-WWI era.

”I’m glad to see you think helping people is such a despicable trait,” Jasper said, giving a venomous look at the perpetrator. He turned around to hand the papers over, giving the necessary replies.

And then… Something in Jasper sort of just. Turned off. He turned around, facing towards Christopher again, who was now murmuring with his friends and making gestures. Jasper knew he shouldn’t do it, but he couldn’t really stop himself. It was like all the irritation and fatigue just caught up with him.

”I’m sure you know all about being helped, Galle, considering you run to mommy and daddy every single time you find out people are tired of your shit.” A sort of fiery energy came from Jasper and his voice, spitting out the words with a violent force. ”That must be the pleasure of being newly rich, huh? You never have to worry about traditions and social etiquette because your money will buy you all the respect you need.” Jasper spoke with dramatics, accenting “traditions” and “social etiquette” with hand waves.

Jasper finished with a sarcastic glance. This sarcastic glance, however, included more than Jasper bargained for. What was once just a fiery fierceness turned into actual flames. Two individuals sparks came from either side of Jasper, twisting around each other as they launched toward the source of his annoyance.

If it hadn’t been such a bad situation, it was actually quite graceful. But, alas, that gracefulness was not to last. As Jasper realized that was fire, the graceful twisted imploded in on itself, and it was shaping out more to be a fire blast than a fireball.

“Confused” was not exactly an adequate way to describe Jasper. On some level, he knew there was fire in front of him, and that this fire was caused by him. But he couldn’t consciously accept this. It was like seeing someone die suddenly; it just didn’t make sense. It was incomprehensible.

And so, Jasper stood, completely shocked, while the fire he created imploded and exploded. And as it started to curl outward, a pit of panic formed in Jasper’s chest. There was a split second where Jasper wondered if he was going to die, but then the fire suddenly disappeared.

It was instead replaced with a rather noticeable shockwave which blasted through the room. And then, in a sort of delayed reaction, Jasper stumbled into the chair behind him.

The classroom was silent. For a while, at least. That while seemed to last infinitely longer for Jasper. Thoughts were jumping around in his head, but none of them formed enough to make any sense. Instead, he could feel the impossible realization that there was something distinctly weird going on.

Jasper’s first reaction most certainly was a distinct “what the fuck”, but after that, he really wondered how surprised he was. His question after that was mostly “What did Isadore know?”

Isadore quickly pulled out his phone and called someone, and then proceeded to have a strange, two line conversation where the only things he said were “I was right,” and “Not my division,” before hanging up.

Confusion turn into complete inability to comprehend the world. Jasper sort of wondered if he had a stroke or something, and this was all just normal everyday life that he was comprehending totally wrong.

And then, Isadore sort of just stood there, holding the phone in his hand. Jasper looked at him, confused and concerned. And perhaps most worryingly to Isadore, Jasper’s face was painted with that look where he was realizing that something was being hidden from him, and it felt like a type of betrayal.

“Jasper, we’re going down to the school entrance,” Isadore said. “Now. The rest of you aren’t my responsibility. Appropriate authorities will be here soon.”

Jasper mostly blindly followed Isadore out of the classroom. He still didn’t totally get things, but the pieces were very slowly coming together.

”Um…” Jasper trailed off, coming to a stop. ”I… What the fuck?” It was Jasper’s time to be eloquent. ”That was… that was definitely…” He took a breath. ”Fire.”

After a pause and a bit of word-arranging in his head, Jasper looked directly at Isadore. ”Please, start explaining. There was fire, that I made, and you knew what to do. You definitely did something. So I want to know what I did, what you did, and what is going to happen from now on.”

If Jasper had information, he could make a plan. And if he had a plan, maybe he could keep this from being a disaster. Because it was dawning onto him that this was going to be big. Very big, and very disastrous.

There was something about seeing a sort of scared friend that made you want to just hold them and tell them everything would be okay, but there was also something about realizing that friend was the one who had been lying to you for the past four years that made you want to never have them touch you again.

Needless to say, Jasper was in a sort of emotional turmoil.

“Th-That’s--classified,” came Isadore’s response. Faux confidence was shattered by a stutter. He wasn’t acting like himself, brushing his hair behind his ear and holding his wrist.

A moment of pause later, Isadore blurted out, “Look. We need to get you outside. I can… keep you from burning down the building, but if you keep making your blasts spread out, it’s going to take a toll on me. And since you’re unfocused at the beginning, and I don’t know any glyphs to change your attunement, the safest thing we can do right now is to get your outside.”

Jasper wanted to argue, but even through the emotional turmoil and confusion, he had to agree that burning down the building was not the best idea. Still, it was irritating being told what to do without any explanation by a supposed friend who had apparently been lying to you since you met him.

“Please,” Isadore said, interrupting the moment of irritation that was boiling up through Jasper. “I promise everything will be explained soon. Once they get here.”

”I can’t disagree with you, we need to get outside,” Jasper said, striding towards the door. Sparks were flying around behind him, but none of them caught fire to anything, thankfully. ”But I’m going to assume that I should refrain from lighting anything else on fire, even outside, considering how the class reacted.” He was speaking more to himself, coming up with a plan.

Pushing through the door and into the outside, the irritation from before snaked through his shoulders, down his arms, and his hands coiled into fists. The overcast sky was smothering Jasper, he felt an insatiable desire to break free, to be able to see everything for himself.

Suddenly, Jasper spun around and faced Isadore. ”Start explaining,” he said, ready to mercilessly pound the questions into his friend until he got an answer. ”What happened? How did you stop it? And who are you?”

The constant rumbling of annoyance that was fueling his power at that moment was in a war with the emotional concern he had for both his friend and himself. But there didn’t seem to be much hope for the emotional side winning; Jasper was a proper mess.

It wasn’t so much that Jasper needed to be in control, but that Jasper couldn’t believe that he’d let himself be so blinded by his friend for all these years. After all, how convenient was it? These types of adoptions almost never happened, so he should have been more shrewd concerning Isadore.

And the worst part was, he still wanted to believe in Isadore. But he couldn’t let himself be manipulated anymore.

Jasper was ill-equipped to deal with his friend bursting into tears. He himself wanted to vigorously break down from his turmoil of emotions, but given both his position and the fact that he could now accidentally blow things up, he was doing his damnedest to prevent a mental breakdown.

Not that Isadore was exactly helping with that.

“Magic,” came his friend’s “explanation”, mixed in with the sobs.

A sigh came from Jasper. He wasn’t exactly annoyed, but more exasperated. How was he supposed to deal with this? What did this mean for his everyday life? For his friendship with Isadore? Would his family know?

A number of cars pulled up, looking very intimidating and very official. Jasper assumed these were the agents that Isadore called on. It was good that he managed to do that before breaking down, Jasper figured.

A man in a black suit and red tie—talk about breaking character—came forward. He mixed confidence with a sort mundane casualness, showing that this was, while important, not all that unusual.

Jasper glanced at the rest of the agents. A number of them went into the school, while others seemed to walk around the school grounds. It was like legitimate Men in Black going on, with a government coverup. Which, given the information Jasper had, didn’t seem too far from the truth.

Christ, Jasper thought to himself. What the hell had he gotten himself into?

Isadore was just getting up when Jasper turned his attention back to the agent with the red tie. Jasper gave his friend a worried look that asked, “Are you okay?”

“Are you Mr. Jasper Stanlyn?” the government agent said to him, making Jasper turn his attention once more. The agent pulled something a wallet out of his suit pocket and with a casual flip showed Jasper the badge. “I’m Agent Johnson. I’m going to have to ask you to accompany me.”

Well, it’s not like Jasper could resist. But he supposed the politeness was comforting. At least he wasn’t being treated like a prisoner. Not yet, at least. There was a distinct sinking feeling in Jasper’s stomach that suggested that things weren’t going to go smoothly.

“I’m coming,” Isadore said. At least he had his friend. Gotta look on the positive side.

“Wonderful! We’ll set up more therapy sessions for you while you’re there, too.”

A scowl on Isadore’s face suggested that this was both in jest, but speaking earnestly at the same time. Well, it’s not like Jasper was surprised that Isadore needed therapy.

“Any questions before we go, Mr. Stanlyn?” Johnson asked. “I may not be able to answer them yet, but I can try to lay to rest any concerns you might have.”

There were about a thousand different questions Jasper could ask right now. Which one was the most important?

There wasn’t really much deliberation in Jasper’s mind. He knew what he had to ask. ”How negatively will this reflect on my family? And how much will my family know of… this? The less they know, I would presume the better, but I’m unaware as to how much they already know.”

Jasper desperately wanted to learn how much everyone else knew about him, along with as much as he could about this “magic”, but Jasper figured that would be given in documents or briefings later. No need to ask unnecessary questions.

”And, tell me about Isadore,” Jasper said, after a bit of deliberation. He wanted to trust his friend, but he was also terrified of learning about him. But in the end, he had to find out. ”Clearly he can use this… ‘magic’ as well, but has he always been able to? And was his… adoption into my family a coincidence, or did your agency have a hand in it?”

Although Johnson seemed to be figuring out how to word things, he spoke quite quickly and swept through Jasper’s concerns. “I’ll go in order. This shouldn’t negatively reflect on your family at all. We happen to be very good at hushing things up. By the end of the day, all of the people who witnessed your little display, save for Isadore here, will be nicely hushed up. Not violently. Thing about rich families is that they’re easy blackmail.”

Jasper nodded. That was a very lucky thing indeed. He decided to not inquire further on the dirty work; he had a pretty good idea of the general method.

“As for your family, they know nothing about this and they will know nothing about this. Except for Isadore here, again.”

Jasper let a visibly sighed in relief. That was perhaps his biggest concern of all. ”Thank you,” he said. Now, he wouldn’t have to worry about “failing to meet the family’s expectations”. And maybe more importantly, he would still be in line for inheritance.

Johnson opened up the car door for Jasper, who quickly slipped into the back seat. It was a nice car, but Jasper was already used to that. Isadore got in on the other side, sitting next to him. He wasn’t sure if there was suddenly an awkwardness between them, or if Isadore was just being distant because of the emotional whiplash.

“As for Isadore, well, that’s a little more highly classified. But… he developed the magic you saw today only about a year ago. Fairly early,” Johnson said, taking shotgun. “And as for his adoption, I can’t say. I know that our agency had no hand in that, but… some agent might have meddled without administrative permission.”

Classified? Jasper thought to himself, turning to look outside to hide his face a bit. Try as he might to hide his surprise, there was still a way Isadore could find out those types things. A pretty perceptive kid. Still, that didn’t mean he could notice these things, Jasper noted, giving another worried look at his friend.

“He means Cedric,” Faai said, surprising Jasper. “But I don’t think he pulled any strings. He was perfectly content to keep me in his sphere of control.”

Blackmoore, too? Jasper would have to note that down for future research. He was quite curious about how much Blackmoore knew, and what the implications of said knowledge was.

“Now.” Johnson pulled out a folder and a packet from a briefcase on the floor. He handed the packet back to Jasper. “That should give you a brief introduction to what you’re currently capable of. What’d you say he was, Isadore?”

“Elementalist. Fire.”

“Right. So that’s on page ten. Luckily, we already have a file for you because of your proximity to… Isadore. Just a few things about your habits, really. Mannerisms. Memories only you would have. Just a precaution.”

An uneasy silence for a split second.

“Really, though, we don’t need them,” Johson said, backtracking. “They’re just general protection against… identity theft.”

An exchange happened between Isadore and Johnson that Jasper didn’t understand. That was important, and considering the fact there was already a file on him, Jasper needed to talk to Isadore. There were more secrets that were being hidden from him.

But now wasn’t the time to make a scene. He just got done making a scene.

“Isadore is what you would call an Alchemist,” Johson said suddenly, changing the topic. Not the best segue, but it was better than mulling through the awkwardness from before. “Page seven. He’s particularly adept at transmutation. I suspect he did something along those lines when your powers manifested?”

Jasper flipped the folder open to page ten, skimming through it best he could. A lot he didn’t understand, but he grabbed the core concept of the elements and what they could do, which was good enough for now. He could go into more depth when he had time.

”When I first created the… fireball, he turned it into a gust of air. Good timing too, a split second later and you may have had to cover up a dead kid.”

That would have been bad. Jasper didn’t want to deal with a dead kid. Or the guilt that came along with it. He definitely didn’t want to face his humanity and lack thereof.

”Of course, not that I have any idea as to what I’m doing, but is there a way to not make me a threat to everyone around me? I think I read something about changing attunement to elements?” A glance back down at the paper confirmed that yes, indeed he did read about this.

But there was a bigger problem, and Jasper was only trying to cover for it at the moment. He was worried about Isadore. A glance over betrayed his feelings once again. If there was any weakness Jasper had, it was definitely his friend.

He felt responsible to take care of him. To make sure he wasn’t pressured. To make sure that when Jasper confronted him with these questions, he would be able to answer calmly. Or as calmly as Isadore ever was.

“The school you and Isadore will be transferring to will teach you many more things about magic and how to control your new power. We can’t really… nullify you, but we can switch you to a less dangerous attunement. But you will need to use your own blood to change attunements.”

There was a brief shift in the atmosphere. Isadore shifted a little. Jasper noticed Johnson looking at his friend and said, “Isadore, will you…”

“I’ll be fine. I had my dose two days ago,” came the response.

Jasper looked at his friend for a moment, a sort of incredulous confusion on his face. Then, quickly moving on as if his brief lapse had never happened, he turned back to Johnson. But, the confusion was still there.

He could figure out what they were talking about; Johnson was concerned about Isadore in the presence of blood. And while Jasper might prefer to think something along the lines of he was just terrified of blood, Isadore shattered that thought with his mention of “dose”.

Which meant, presumably, there would be bad things that would happen if Isadore was around blood without having a recent “dose”—presumably of blood. And considering how they seemed more concerned about Jasper than Isadore, with regards to the file that was already made on him, Jasper had an eerie feeling that Isadore wasn’t well liked.

And also maybe was a vampire. But Jasper didn’t really bother with that thought.

Jasper unconsciously shifted his weight from leaning back against the seat and slightly towards the window, to more of a forward position, and slightly closer to Jasper. Although he wasn’t able to consciously pick it out, he wanted to protect his friend. Even if he may be hiding a lot and may or may not be involved with conspiracies.

“Would you prefer a needle, or a knife? I’m not really authorized to offer the latter, but, well, some are terrified of needles.” Johnson handed a packet back, along with a watercolor paper. “Find him the rune, will you?”

Isadore flipped through the book before turning it around to let Jasper see. But, there was some hesitation in the car. “If… If you would prefer to… not… you can wait. I can transmute your magic, if you get out of control,” Isadore said.

Johnson cut in, “That might be a better plan, if you hate pain.” They seemed to be very focused on making sure the car didn’t explode from within. Which was good. “If you’re going to panic at the concept of making yourself bleed, then especially right now, it’s not worth it. Better wait until we’re at HQ, then we can get you in a room filled with more experienced alchemists so that we can do a blood draw.”

Jasper shook his head. ”I’d rather get it over with now. Just draw my blood, I have no problems with needles.” He didn’t like needles—who did?—but it would be less painful than using a knife.

Jasper leaned forward and held out his arm to give Johnson easy access. ”So once I get the blood, I just draw the rune?”

“That’s right,” Johnson said, wrapping a tourniquet around Jasper’s arm. “Pump your fist and hold.” After wiping down the area and finding the vein, Johnson quickly and deftly stuck the needle in and collected the blood. Once finished, he pulled the syringe out and flipped it over, with the blood collection vial sliding out.

After pulling the top of the vial off, Johnson gave it to Jasper to use. “Just draw the rune on the watercolor paper,” he reiterated.

Jasper nodded and took the vial, coating the brush with his blood. It was a surprising consistency, not unlike what he remembered real paint was like. Perhaps a bit thicker. Most assuredly a bit more creepy, as well.

The rune wasn’t overly hard to draw, and he presumed it didn’t have to be perfect. Otherwise that might be a little impossible to do. Especially in a car.

Once finished, Jasper glanced between Johsnon and Isadore. ”So, if I’m not mistaken, we should not longer have to be worried about me accidentally exploding this car?” He would breathe his sigh of relief once he got confirmation.